2023-08-27 07:51:57
Ukraine practically since the beginning of the war has been pressuring Western countries to reinforce their air force with western fighter jets. The technical difficulties to make it possible, and the doubts about how the war was going to develop, made the allies choose to deliver to the Ukrainian Air Force old fighters from the Soviet era, which were still in good condition, so that their use could be immediate.
Poland and Slovakia pulled out of their hangars Mig29, which they still have from when they were part of the Cold War Communist Bloc, and handed them over to the kyiv government. This fighter model was already in service with the Ukrainian Air Force and its pilots and mechanics were perfectly familiar with its operation. His coupling in the war scenario was quick, but did not solve Ukraine’s air problems.
The anti-aircraft defenses are currently winning the battle against the planes, it cannot be said that neither side has air supremacywho controls the sky at will, but it is true that Russian aviation is doing a lot of harm to the Ukrainians and that kyiv has virtually no capacity to use its Mig29, Su-25 and Su-27 except for missions at very low altitude.
That is why Ukraine has spent months trying to convince its Western allies that it needs modern Western fighters with which to increase your aerial potential. The eye was always on the US-made F-16, a multipurpose fighter that is still in service with many European air forces and whose performance would represent a qualitative leap for the Ukrainians.
In the defense industry, the manufacturer of a system has veto power to prevent a purchasing country from transferring it to a third party without its authorization. And until now, despite the fact that European countries bet on transfer F-16 to Ukraine, the United States had not given the green light to the operation. Netherlands and Denmark They are the two allies who have consummated the challenge and Norway it has joined the F-16 coalition shortly thereafter.
The challenge now is to integrate the F-16s into the Ukrainian Air Force. More experienced Ukrainian pilots are going to need a adaptation course to the new fighter lasting at least six months, being very very intensive, so that these fighters can be relatively profitable. With fighters made with a different worldview than the Soviet-made ones they have been using.
They have to adapt to the new instruments, to new flight procedures, to the radar and sensor systems, to the new weapons… to the technical English necessary to be able to operate the device. and all that time I would not even guarantee that laterif they were in the air with Russian fighters, had any real choice in a one-on-one matchor had the expertise to successfully evade Russian anti-aircraft systems.
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not to say that They do not have a logistics line for its repair and they would have to assemble it from scratch. and that the mechanics will need a minimum period similar to that of the pilots to learn how to repair this type of appliance specifically. Now, we also know something else, and that is that there are Ukrainian pilots who have been training in the use of F-16s for at least 2 months in different European countries, so that training would not start from scratch now.
The fact that pilots and mechanics have to be trained and that, in addition, the donor countries – to which more could be added in the near future, since seven more NATO countries have them in service in their air force, although not all are in a condition to deliver units – have to get the aircraft ready will mean that Ukraine will not operate these fighters to defend his country from Russian invaders until well into the year 2024.
For the moment, the largest number of units will be supplied by Netherlands. They have been willing to give 42 aircraft, but they have not yet discussed deadlines. The clearest figures have been put on the table Denmark. Would 19 units, of which six would arrive “with luck” -according to the Danish Government- for the new year. Another eight during the year 2024 and the last 5 for 2025. Norway He only talked about numbers5-10) not of dates.
The arrival of these F16 will allow the Ukrainians to improve their situationfend off some of the Russian attacks and hit the russians further from where they can do it today. They will significantly expand the Ukrainian attack radius, but they are not going to help them achieve air supremacy. And that’s assuming that the Ukrainian adaptation is very fast and everything goes like silk.
The F16 fighters have had 4 versions and each version has received different updates. There are arguably 11 different levels within the F16, ranging from the Block 1 F16 A/B (the oldest and most outdated) to the modern F16 V Block 70.
The Danish, Dutch and Norwegian aircraft were purchased years ago, in fact, they are being withdrawn from service and replaced by modern F-35s, and although they have been taking care of and modernizing them, they do not currently reach the highest level of F16s in the market. They would stay at the last update of the second version, at the third highest level, but far from the capabilities of the two most modern versions. That is, they would stay in a 50/52+ Block (they have MLU modernization).
Los F16 would not become in any case the most powerful fighters that are flying over the Ukrainian airspace, since they would be inferior, for example, to the Su-35 that the Russian invading air force is operating, although in low numbers. Therefore, they will not be a decisive weapon in the war, although they will increase Ukrainian power and, with the support of other defensive and offensive weapons systems, will make it easier for them to expel the Russian invader.
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