Foreign media: Ukraine will not immediately deploy F-16 fighter jets to the front line
2024-08-16
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Ukrainian Air Force F-16 fighter jet carrying missiles. Image source: Ukrainian Presidential Office
Comprehensive compilation by Wegeli
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Ukraine tried to introduce modern fighter jets from Western countries. Now, Western fighter jets have finally started flying over Ukraine. At the end of July, a person familiar with the situation revealed to Bloomberg that the first batch of F-16 fighter jets provided by NATO to Ukraine has arrived. The Associated Press reported that four NATO member states, Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, have successively promised to provide Ukraine with "dozens" of F-16s.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shared a video on the social media platform "X" showing an F-16 taking off. He said the moment symbolized "a new stage in the development of the Ukrainian Air Force." As the main aircraft model of European and American countries, the F-16 will significantly improve the quality of Ukraine's air force and enhance its offensive and defensive capabilities against various targets.
However, Ukraine's F-16s have major limitations at this stage. There are not many aircraft in this batch, and there are not many Ukrainian pilots who can fly this fighter jet skillfully. More importantly, Russia has more powerful fighter jets and air defense systems, which are enough to shoot down Ukraine's F-16s. Many Western military experts believe that the extremely harsh battlefield environment determines that Ukraine will not immediately put these valuable Western fighter jets into the front line. On the contrary, they will be strictly protected on the ground and in the air to avoid activities near Russia.
Justin Bronk, an air combat expert at the Royal United Services Institute, said that if Ukraine's F-16s have to get close to the front line, they will have to fly at a very low altitude to avoid Russian radar detection. He said: "(The aircraft) is less than 40 kilometers from the front line, the risk will increase greatly. In my opinion, at the beginning, Ukrainian pilots will tend to fly F-16s in areas 40 kilometers away from the front line to continue to accumulate experience."
In an interview with the British "Guardian", the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Silsky, mentioned that Russia's air force is at an advantage and its ground-based air defense firepower is also strong, so Ukraine's F-16 fighters may need to ensure that they are in a sufficiently safe position.
Ukraine also faces challenges in logistics and human resources. Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of War Studies at King's College London, said that in order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the F-16, Ukraine needs to establish a radar network, spare parts supply system, refueling system and high-quality airports. She told the Associated Press: "There is a long list of problems to be solved."
A military source told the US Politico website that by the end of this year, only 20 Ukrainian pilots will be able to complete F-16 training, which is half the number of pilots required for a standard flight squadron. The Washington Post reported that due to the tense war situation, Ukraine cannot keep too many elite pilots abroad for a long time for training.
Earlier, in an interview with the Reagan Institute in the United States, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine has obtained too few Western fighter jets to be effective on the battlefield. "Even if there are 50, it is insignificant... They (Russia) have 300." Zelensky stressed that the Ukrainian Air Force needs to be equipped with at least hundreds of modern fighter jets to make a difference.
Source: China Youth Daily Client
