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Ukraine's long-awaited F-16 fighter jets are finally going to the battlefield, but this time, it is difficult for the US-made fighter jets to help Ukraine turn the tide, because the US has kept a trick up its sleeve for Ukraine, and the F-16s it gave Ukraine are simplified versions. Meanwhile, Russia has recently put a new type of air-to-air missile into service, making the situation facing the Ukrainian F-16s even worse.

According to the photos released by Ukraine, the Ukrainian F-16 fighter jets are not equipped with the mainstream AIM-120C and AIM-9X air-to-air missiles. Judging from the wings, the Ukrainian F-16 uses AIM-120B and AIM-9L/M air-to-air missiles. Although the names are similar, the performance is very different.

AIM-120 is the world's first active radar-guided air-to-air missile. Compared with semi-active radar-guided air-to-air missiles such as AIM-7 and R-27, the advantage of active radar-guided air-to-air missiles is that they do not require the carrier aircraft to guide the missile all the time. As long as the target enters the missile's small radar search range, the carrier aircraft can interrupt the guidance of the missile, greatly improving the carrier aircraft's survivability.