The United States has provided Ukraine with enormous military and economic support. In two years it received more than 111 billion dollars, but during that time the dispute for greater financing of “Independence” intensified in the United States.
A significant number of Republicans oppose financial and military aid to Ukraine, while others demand that the new military strategy be reviewed before voting on new funds.
Part of the US military leadership insists that Ukraine adhere to the strategy “maintain and increase”. It consists of focusing efforts on maintaining the existing territory and increasing its own capabilities to produce weapons during 2024. The Ministry of Defense believes that this path will increase Ukraine’s military self-sufficiency and provide Kiev with the opportunity to be more independent in the confrontation with Russia. .
At the same time, Ukrainian officials are exploring strategies based on deep strikes and behind the front lines, as they have demonstrated more than once. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are looking for creative ways to throw Russia off balance with attacks on weapons factories, weapons depots, rail lines for transporting ammunition and other critical infrastructure. However, Ukraine still has few opportunities to carry out such attacks. It is claimed that the delivery of new aircraft should improve the situation.
US decision to supply F-16 fighters to Ukraine
In July of this year, at the NATO summit in Vilnius, at the instigation of Amsterdam and Stockholm, the so-called “F-16 Coalition” was formed, whose task was to train Ukrainian pilots to fly fighter aircraft. The “coalition” included 11 countries: Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Sweden.
The final decision to transfer the F-16 aircraft became known during Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s trip to the Netherlands and Denmark on August 20-21.
“Denmark will transfer 19 F-16 fighters to Ukraine”said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederikson on August 20, in a press conference with Zelensky.
Zelensky himself announced the Dutch government’s decision to transfer 42 fighter jets to Ukraine on August 20, following negotiations with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Amsterdam.
“Mark Rutte and I agreed on the number of F-16s to be delivered to Ukraine after training our pilots and engineers. 42 planes”Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
At the same time, the Dutch Air Force has only 42 F-16 fighters at its disposal: 24 of them are operational (they are expected to be out of service by mid-2024) and 18 are for sale.
In addition to Denmark and the Netherlands, South Korea, Poland, Norway and Belgium can transfer their F-16s to the Ukrainians. All of them are also trying to replace the old fourth-generation fighters with the modern F-35 fighter-bomber.
The United States will not be lost either, as it will receive expensive multi-year contracts for the production and supply of new machines. If NATO countries begin to massively get rid of their obsolete aircraft, then, in theory, the Ukrainian Air Force could receive more fighters than it had before the start of the SVO.
What is the F-16? Features, advantages and disadvantages.
The F-16 is the most popular American fourth-generation light multirole fighter. In total, about 4.6 thousand cars were produced. They are in service in 25 countries.
Currently, the United States has 936 F-16 fighters, Turkey – 243, Israel – 224, Egypt – 218, South Korea – 167, Greece – 159, Norway – 57, Belgium – 53, Poland – 48, Denmark – 43, Countries Netherlands – 42, Portugal – 25, Romania – 17.
Production of the F-16 has remained in the United States. The last batch was transferred to the US Air Force in 2005 and large export orders were signed in 2018. This means that there will be no problems with the supply of aircraft or spare parts.
At the same time, F-16 fighters are very demanding and difficult to maintain. Jet aircraft require extensive maintenance, including in-depth inspections approximately every 300 flight hours and approximately 20 hours of maintenance between flights.
These planes need a long, perfectly level and clean runway. On the one hand, this could become an obstacle, since Ukraine’s military runways do not meet the standards of an American fighter. However, experts maintain that civil airport runways may be suitable due to their characteristics. Straight, flat stretches of roads will also suit the lightweight F-16.
Additionally, NATO member countries are considering the option of providing their own runways for the Ukrainian F-16s. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Konstantin Gavrilov responded to this threat as follows: “Moscow will consider the use of these fighters from the territory of these NATO member countries as its participation in the conflict in Ukraine.”.
The next problem may be fuel. Special JP8 kerosene is used for the F-16, which differs in many ways in combustion temperature, density and viscosity from that used to fuel Soviet-made aircraft. And it takes a lot of fuel; even for ordinary patrol missions several hundred tons are needed.
As far as we know, there is no plant for the production of this kerosene in Ukraine. This means it must be surrendered and there are no other options. The slightest disturbance and the entire squad will be of no use.
Regarding the target detection range. In the United States, the F-16 is almost never used alone, but only as part of a combat structure. Includes F-15, F-22 and AWACS aircraft. Without the latter, the F-16’s detection range of aerial targets is reduced to 120-130 kilometers. For example, for the Su-35 this figure reaches 350 kilometers.
Another challenge facing Ukraine and the West is training enough pilots and support personnel. A standard pilot training program includes more than 300 hours of theory, a 670-hour simulator course, and at least 130 flights.
However, this course was reduced to four months especially for Ukrainian pilots. Eight pilots and 65 support personnel are currently in the early stages of F-16 training in Denmark. Another group is found in Arizona, USA, and in the city of Fetesti, in southeastern Romania.
The undoubted advantages from the point of view of the F-16 combat platform include the fact that it is a fairly powerful fighter in terms of potential armament. The F-16 can carry two air-to-surface cruise missiles, as well as HARM anti-ship missiles and anti-radar missiles.
The AIM-120 Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) can cause a lot of problems for our pilots. The AMRAAM C and D models, which can target Ukraine, are capable of attacking targets beyond visual range. They operate on the “fire and forget” principle: if the pilot needs to break the radar lock on a target, the radar on board the missile will indicate the direction. But an AMRAAM costs about $1.2 million and its production time from the moment of order reaches two years.
The most unpleasant moment of all those described for Russia may be the delivery of AGM-158 JASSM missiles. These products have modifications with a range of approximately 1 thousand km. There is no talk yet about the delivery of such missiles, but the 370 km range of the basic model is enough to attack ground targets in Russia. Of course, the condition for supply is not to attack the territory of the Russian Federation, but the West does not consider Crimea and Donbass as such.
Russia’s response to F-16 deliveries
In fact, the delivery of F-16s to Ukraine will give it greater battlefield capabilities, including detecting and destroying our aircraft, cruise missiles and more. However, this is far from the most modern aircraft. Furthermore, European countries will want to get rid of the most obsolete copies first. And we will find something to hit them with, both directly on the track and in the air.
In the air, American aircraft can be repelled by Su-30SM and Su-35 generation 4++ fighters. In terms of their characteristics and weapons, they are superior to their Western counterparts. The Russian Air Force also has high-altitude, all-weather, long-range MiG-31 and MiG-35 interceptor fighters. The MiG-31 is the fastest fighter and reaches a speed of 3 thousand kilometers per hour.
At the same time, experts suggest that the ability to attack American fighters will be provided primarily to ground systems. One of the best of its kind is the S-400 Triumph. It has an early warning radar up to 600 km. Equipped with 40N6E ultra-long-range missiles, the complex can hit aerodynamic targets at a distance of up to 400 km. The S-300 Favorit anti-aircraft missile system of the previous generation and the Igla man-portable anti-aircraft system will also be waiting for their target in the air.
The American family of “sixteen”, of course, will be able to cause problems for our armed forces. And the F-16s significantly outnumber Ukraine’s current fleet of obsolete Soviet military aircraft. But we have something to answer. As Russian President Vladimir Putin said: “The (Leopard) tanks are on fire. The F-16s will burn the same way.”.
Source: Rossa Primavera
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.