news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

[Text/Observer Network Lynx] After appearing over the western city of Lviv at the end of last month, the F-16 fighter jet that the Ukrainian Air Force had been looking forward to finally made its official public debut on the 4th of this month.

Although Ukraine publicly called on NATO countries to assist with F-15,F-16The process of acquiring American-made fighter jets has gone through many twists and turns, but it finally entered the actual implementation stage last year. Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and other countries have decided to provide Ukraine with second-hand F-16s retired by their air forces, and Ukrainian Air Force pilots have also been able to go to Denmark, the United Kingdom and even the United States to participate in F-16 fighter modification training.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released an official video on the official arrival of the F-16 fighter jets. The video showed that Ukrainian President Zelensky personally attended the ceremony of the Ukrainian Air Force receiving the F-16 and delivered a speech.

When Zelensky was speaking on the scene, the fuselage of the first two F-16s, including a large part of the wings, was still covered with camouflage nets, but the video also included the appearance of these fighters without camouflage nets, including ground parking, taxiing and takeoff. Judging from the characteristics of the F-16 in the video, one of the aircraft has a searchlight on the left side of the nose. Among the four countries that have promised to provide F-16 fighters to Ukraine, all F-16s of the Danish Air Force and the single-seat F-16A of the Norwegian Air Force have this feature. The main purpose of this light is to provide lighting for visual identification during night air defense interception (the F-16 ADF used by the US Air Force National Guard to intercept bombers also has similar features. This batch of aircraft was later provided to Italy, Thailand, Jordan and other countries). The root of the vertical tail is a "short base" configuration without a landing parachute, so this fighter can be determined to be the F-16AM provided by Denmark.

In addition, another single-seat F-16A without a left searchlight was on the scene. Since it also had a "short vertical tail base" without a parachute compartment, it might be an early batch of Dutch F-16A without a parachute compartment. However, judging from the other Ukrainian Air Force F-16 flight photos circulating on the Internet, at least two of them can still be confirmed to be Danish aircraft, so it can still be determined that most of the first batch of aircraft were provided by Denmark.

Another feature of the F-16 on display this time is that it has an "Integrated Pedestal System" (PIDS) or "Integrated Electronic Warfare Pedestal System" (ECIPS) produced by the Danish Terma company installed under its wing. This series of products not only serves as an ammunition rack (no ammunition was mounted this time) and does not occupy any hanging points, but also has multiple radio/optical sensors to provide omnidirectional missile approach warnings, which can provide the F-16 with important additional survivability capabilities. It also includes optional infrared/chaff flare launchers and built-in electronic self-defense equipment.

However, in terms of ammunition, the F-16 displayed this time was relatively conservative, using a "two in the middle and two close" anti-aircraft mount, with two 370-gallon disposable auxiliary fuel tanks added to the wing roots. The mounting form is also the common configuration of the F-16 series, with a pair of AIM-120s hung on the wingtip rails and an AIM-9 hung on the outermost underwing rack.

However, it is worth noting that the two missiles displayed by the Ukrainian Air Force F-16 this time are the older AIM-9M "Sidewinder" infrared combat air-to-air missile and the AIM-120B activeradarGuided medium-range air-to-air missiles. Although the Danish Air Force purchased the AIM-9X Sidewinder from the United States as early as 2004, and introduced the AIM-9X BlockⅡ again in the following years, and also used it on the F-16; in 2018 and this year, Denmark also purchased two more advanced medium-range missiles, the AIM-120C-7 and AIM-120C-8, which are obviously prepared by Denmark for the F-35 fleet. In short, although Ukraine has received the coveted F-16, it will probably have to use "old missiles" for a long time in the future. Among them, relying on the AIM-120B, which is officially said to have an interception distance of only 80 kilometers, it may be difficult to achieve "immediate" results in the air control contest with Russian fighters.

This article is an exclusive article of Observer.com and may not be reproduced without authorization.