Posted on 05/29/2024 4:58:57 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Gen. Serhii Golubtsov, the commander of the Ukrainian air force, has said all along he needed four operational squadrons of Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters to have any chance of controlling the air over a single sector of the 700-mile front line of Russia’s wider war on Ukraine.
It’s taken more than a year of intensive diplomacy between Ukrainian, Norwegian, Dutch, Danish and Belgian officials, but Golubtsov is finally getting his four squadrons.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky announced Belgium would donate 30 surplus F-16s—boosting to 85 the total number of the nimble, supersonic fighters Ukraine should receive starting this summer.
That’s enough jets to sustain the Ukrainians’ F-16 training unit in Romania—currently flying 18 ex-Dutch F-16s—while also equipping the equivalent of four squadrons each with 16 jets. The three additional planes would presumably be in reserve to replace the inevitable combat losses.
The 64 front-line jets—the equivalent of a U.S. Air Force fighter wing—could achieve local air superiority, albeit temporarily, Golubtsov said last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
....excellent overview of this whole situation....these F-16s appear to be quite old, but even with upgrades, etc., how would they stand up to more modern fighters (some of these appear to be block 15s...?) I was an aircraft maintainer on Block 30 F-16 Cs and Ds...many of those are now in the boneyard in Arizona or have been converted to aerial drones ending their lives being shot down....
What does an F16 go for on the open market in Iraq?
- Theodor Reik, 1965
What does the Cold War’s fight against Communism have to do with what’s going on today?
Gamechanger?
The Russian's will blow up the runways they need, or shoot them down.
In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled The Ukrainian Air Force Wanted Four Squadrons Of F-16s. It’s Finally Getting Them., ducttape45 wrote: But can they fly them?
I saw an article saying that the trainees completed basic flight training at the end of 2023 and were transitioning to specifics about the F-16. I pity those pilots. Fortunately for them, the F-16's are expected to start trickling in at the end of the year and are not expected to complete delivery until 2028. Based on current events and the steady withdrawal of support from the west (despite the MSM assertions), the Ukraine will likely lose the war long before Ukrainian pilot are sacrificed against experienced Russian pilots.
My post here has the details.
Wrong thing to do......WWIII is just around the corner. If the experts think Putin will not react, he has been given provocation now to pull out all the stops and maybe go nuclear. Russia needs Ukraine oil to economically survive. This comes from Obozo/Biden mistaken foreign policy years back........
I was hoping you could explain why you keep making those irrelevant posting over and over.
I was aware of some of the stuff from Mercouris, but not the rest.
I've been being told that the F-16s were arriving since last August - nearly a year now.
More than likely
Gamechanger???
No, the games the same... Picking the pockets of the American taxpayers.
Until you hit the ground.
Exactly. I didn’t include the /s
I’m surprised they had that many pilots still alive.
Denys Davydov is available in Switzerland.
“Since Russia is jamming all our GPS weapons, we will have to modify them to use gaydar instead.”
LOL !
All precision guided gaydar munitions fall on Hollywood.
Infuriating.
Send those idiots defective Boeing passenger planes if anything.
“Until you hit the ground.”
Yeah....on the landing gear.
“Since Russia is jamming all our GPS weapons, we will have to modify them to use gaydar instead.”
A number of FR posters will be in immediate danger if we do that!
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