Zeepers Hardest Hit...
Posted on 07/04/2024 1:08:04 PM PDT by hardspunned
In a brutal and terrifying three days, Russia has wreaked havoc on the tiny, battered Ukrainian air force – lofting drones to surveil the air force’s front-line airfields and then firing ballistic missiles to destroy hard-to-replace warplanes.
As the missile campaign continues and the toll mounts – four or five aircraft were destroyed in 72 hours – it’s increasingly clear just one thing can save what’s left of Ukrainian air power. More Western-made air defenses.
But they’d better come fast.
The current wave of attacks began on July 1, when a Russian drone spotted six Ukrainian air force Sukhoi Su-27 fighters parked in the open in broad daylight on the tarmac at Mirgorod air base, 100 miles from Ukraine’s northern border with Russia.
A Russian Iskander ballistic missile struck, destroying two of the supersonic fighters.
The next day, it happened again. A Russian drone flew circles over the Ukrainian air base in Poltava, just east of Mirgorod. After hours of surveillance, another Iskander missile struck – damaging, if not destroying, a Ukrainian army Mil Mi-24 gunship helicopter.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Stop with the Ruzzian propaganda. Everyone knows Ukraine is winning.
And Kyiv was taken in 3 days. /s
LOL!
But really, neither side is winning AFAICT. Each side has lost hundreds of thousands of troops, thousands of armored vehicles, and uncounted numbers of other military assets.
Both sides lose.
And we lose too....all that money, so many of our weapons, etc etc etc. Whole thing is a quagmire and we’re the ones sinking.
Meanwhile, my new neighbors from Ukraine are nice people and I like them.
Zeepers Hardest Hit...
“Ukraine’s new F-16 fighter jets will be destroyed as soon as they arrive”
Why even post something so OBVIOUS? Technically, I should report you.
Anyway, the REAL QUESTION is how many more US Secrets do the Russians obtain as they comb through the wreckage sites.
https://www.cfr.org/expert-brief/what-it-takes-fly-f-16-challenges-ukraine
"For instance, for every F-16 pilot, there is a significant maintenance and logistics “tail” of support personnel that accompanies each aircraft to keep it airworthy. A typical package of twelve aircraft needs close to 250 maintainers to remain viable. These include mechanics and airframe specialists, crew chiefs, munitions loaders, and aircrew life support. To create the targeting and mission packages, a robust team of intelligence analysts and targeting experts is required to ensure operational success. Meanwhile, onsite emergency personnel, including firefighters and medics, are needed to ensure safe ground operations."
SNIP
"Ukrainian commanders planning F-16 operations will be concerned about the threat posed by runway debris. Because F-16s have only one engine—as opposed to the dual=engine MiG-29 and Su-27—they are particularly vulnerable to damage from worn or littered runways. Operating F-16s from such airfields will need to be part of the risk calculations considered by F-16 operators. The F-16 is not designed to operate from damaged or improvised runways, but if it is, careful sweeps of runways and ramp surfaces will be required."
SNIP
"But more F-16s for Ukraine means it will need more spare parts, more training, more munitions, and more infrastructure—all of which require additional time and precious resources. Infrastructure for complex weapons systems takes multiple years to develop and cohere, which would be difficult for any command to establish amid an ongoing conflict, but will be particularly challenging for a country fighting a large-scale war against one of the world’s largest militaries. The impact that Ukraine’s F-16s will have on the war should therefore be measured over years, not months. "
The Ukrainians should keep them at least 10 miles away from Russian front lines.
They need to be reserved for in-country defensive use, such as shooting down Iranian drones.
I believe each F-16 requires 8 hours of normal maintenance for each hour in the air. Currently we can muster 29% of our F-35s for operation according to Lloyd Austin. Imagine how those few would hold up flying multiple sorties a day against the best air defense in the world.
In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled Ukraine’s new F-16 fighter jets will be destroyed as soon as they arrive, Blood of Tyrants wrote: LOL!
But really, neither side is winning AFAICT. Each side has lost hundreds of thousands of troops, thousands of armored vehicles, and uncounted numbers of other military assets.
Both sides lose.
Russia is winning. It has air superiority and is picking off, destroying Ukrainian assets at a higher rate than Ukraine is destroying Russian assets.
Ukraine has lost more people, per capita. I would argue that a significant chunk of Ukraine's workforce has fled to neighboring countries or is fighting, or due to fight, in the war. Russia's military losses are a smaller percentage of it's workforce.
Russia's infrastructure is for the most part intact. Ukrainian infrastructure has been destroyed in many areas and will take years to rebuild. The Russians were using a 'switching' (probaby still are) which uses electrical switching as a tactic which fries any electronics (cell phone to medical x-ray equipment) plugged into the Ukraine's grid.
So many areas of Ukraine will need extensive work to become livable - again not a problem for Russia. The Ukraine has had a hard time keeping up with ammo needs, as NATO countries have greater limits on production and productivity compared with Russia.
The US pays the wages, pensions, of Ukrainian officials, as it also pays for emergency medical services and other municiple needs. Without US money, siginficant portions of the Ukraine would remain rubble for the foreseable future.
Sanctions failed to damage Russia as intended.
Presently, the Russians are taking control of more and more cities (accelerating) and the Ukrainians are in retreat, struggling to hold on or defend.
Stop this playing and around prolonging this bs. Lets put nukes on the Russian border and send one into Moscow just to see what the Russians do..
Go Biden!
Unfortunately for master genius Russians, the “destroyed” fighters were parked there years ago and where used for parts.
Sadly some would think this is a good idea.
Remember the days of WWII when a fighter could do 2-3 sorties a day with just refueling and rearming.
We shall find out very quickly. I doubt that you noticed but there was a substantial uptick in Uke launched JDAMs in that area. Those are the Uke jets used to accomplish this. Let’s see if those JDAMs continue.
This level of corruption is historic. And some people want us to go to war with these misfits at the top calling the shots? Insane.
They need an airport to land on and reports are the necessary ones are “out of order”.
Russia is not going to capitulate and give up the ground they have gained. I predict that the war will end with Russia keeping the areas they have taken and, yes, it will take years to repair all the damage.
“Ukraine’s new F-16 fighter jets will be destroyed as soon as they arrive”
...Just as the PATRIOTS and HIMARS were.
Oh well, we will know soon enough. They start arriving in country this month.
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