Posted on 08/10/2023 11:51:16 PM PDT by McGruff
A first group of six Ukrainian pilots is not expected to complete training on the U.S.-made F-16 before next summer, senior Ukrainian government and military officials said, following a series of delays by Western partners in implementing an instruction program for the sophisticated fighter jet.
The timeline reflects the disconnect between Ukraine’s supporters, who envision F-16s as a key tool in the country’s long-term defense, and Kyiv, which has desperately requested that the jets reach the battle space as soon as possible, viewing them as critical for the current fight against occupying Russian forces.
President Biden, after denying Ukrainian appeals for the F-16 for more than a year, reversed course in May and said he backed the idea of training Ukrainian pilots on the jets, and supported the transfer of the planes by other countries.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Delayed until no longer needed, once the Russian-Ukraine civil war is over. Save the money and resources for better causes that are in our interest. Ukraine is not our concern.
Ukraine is lost and when it becomes inevitable you will suddenly observe the media go eirily silent about the whole thing.
The only thing you will notice is a sudden increase in the flux of people in your communities with thick slavic accents.
On the bright side it will be a refreshing change of pace to the 3rd world that has been flooding us.
Ohnoes!!
Idiots!
Just send “ex”USAF “volunteer” pilots with the F-16s. How hard is that?
-fJRoberts-
An embarrassing example of a reckless, opportunistic involvement.
Linda Graham and Joek Byedone will fight the Ruskies to the last Ukrainian.
I don’t get this one... Even assuming Ukie pilots could master the F16 by the end of next week, what kind of chance is an F16 going to have against an Su35 or Su57???
They arent going to have to fight Su57’s.
Thats not the best use of F-16’s. And the presence of highly advanced air defense systems on both sides makes any attempt to establish air supremacy within the regions of SAM coverage unlikely to succeed.
Use cases for Ukrainian F-16’s -
- Replace Su-24’s in using long range guided missiles. Ukraine now has access to hundreds of Stormshadow and its Euro counterparts (related designs). But its only got a few launching platforms, and its got to be very careful to use them safely.
- Serve as highly flexible backup vs Russian cruise missiles. The west has many thousands of AMRAAMs in stock, most of them obsolescent but still effective vs most cruise missiles. F16 radars should also be very effective to intercept them. F16 patrols can intercept cruise missiles throughout the territory of Ukraine, and mitigate Russian ability to locally swamp defenses, as fighters can quickly respond to detected cruise launches.
- F16s can use munitions like the SDB or JDAM for standoff battlefield support.
I think they want to test against Russian air defence, and they want to use Ukrainian pilots, since none of them is likely to survive.
It is just more sick, cowardly exploitation of Ukrainians, and sending more of them to their deaths.
That is highly unlikely. Think about it. These will be 30-40 year old F-16s with long obsolete jammers and etc. And SEAD (suppression of enemy air defense) is not just some fighters flying over with HARM, its a complex multilayered system. There is nothing to test.
There is no way such missions would have any value in evaluating Russian capabilities vs current USAF SEAD.
So according to your expertise F-16s could be a game changer in the Ukraine-Russia proxxy war.
Likewise I suppose your expertise will project a similar effect when US/NATO forces are introduced.
-fJRoberts-
Just what I was thinking....radio chatter...fuel trucks moving...also I read that F-16 needs a good runway ....cannot use regular roads...so how many first grade runways does Ukraine have....?
Did you ever wonder why Russia has total air superiority over Ukraine? Russia’s anti-aircraft capabilities, intimidating even before the war started, are even greater now after over a 18 months of learning in intense combat. Putting F-16s in small dribbles in the Ukraine theater of war will result of them get shot out of the sky.
“game changer”
You exaggerate.
No, I think they would be very useful in various ways, and I specified what these are likely to be, but not anything fundamental. Consider rather that they will help relieve some Ukrainian deficiencies.
And the rabid Zeepers will crawl back under rocks like the cockroaches they are.
Russia does not have “total air superiority”.
It is rather a remarkable circumstance that Russia lacks air superiority. The RuAF is unable to operate over nearly all Ukrainian airspace. This is a consequence of the Ukrainians possessing an effective air defense system. This has kept teh RuAF away for 18 months. This has now been reinforced by western systems, like Patriot.
The Ukrainian AF is also unable to overfly Russian territory, for exactly the same reasons.
Both sides have managed to occasionally operate tactically on the fringes of occupied territories, at the edge of SAM coverage.
Pathetic. This Administration slow-walks everything.
“This Administration slow-walks everything.”
This is true. This administration has been nearly as indecisive as the Germans in providing support. Or rather, I don’t know if it is the administration itself or the Pentagon bureaucracy thats most at fault. I imagine there are turf wars and infighting over various sacred cows in that building.
Some of the chicks are hot. I trust them the same as I trust Joe around kids…
Many are already trying to use their “you know whats” to get citizenship.
Don’t believe me, check online…
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