One of the main goals of the Ukrainian Armed Forces today is to ensure that the fighters are not lost on the ground.
F-16 fighters are already in Ukraine. On Sunday, August 4, when Ukraine celebrated the Air Force Day of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Vladimir Zelensky and the Ukrainian media shared footage from the ceremony of receiving the aircraft into service. The President called what is happening a new stage in the development of the Ukrainian Air Force. According to the Western press, Ukraine received ten F-16s, and by the end of 2024, another 20 American-made aircraft will arrive in the country. The remaining fighters will arrive in the batch in 2025. In total, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will receive 79 fighters.
Key issues
The ceremony was filmed, probably at the Vasilkov airfield in the Kyiv region. But it is far from certain that the F-16s will be based there. The main goal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces today is to ensure that the aircraft does not disappear from the ground. There are two options for ensuring the safety of the F-16: cover the airfield using air defense means or constantly move the aircraft from one airfield to another – this is exactly what the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to fight for on the survivability of their aircraft earlier. The second option is not very suitable for F-16s – not all airports are suitable for their deployment.
What are they used for?
After several F-16s, along with MiG-29 and Su-27 aircraft, flew over the skies of Ukraine in a ceremony to congratulate the soldiers of the Ukrainian Air Force on August 4, military experts were able to that of the first conclusions about what weapons the F-16 aircraft were transferred to Ukraine.
Thus, analysts of the Defense Express portal noted that the presented fighters are armed with two types of air-to-air missiles: AIM-9 with infrared guidance to destroy targets in the near zone; AIM-120, controlled by radar radiation, responsible for medium and long range. And Forbes journalists noticed that specific pylons in the middle part of the wing on the Ukrainian F-16 are equipped with built-in protective equipment – in particular, integrated electronic warfare systems PIDS and ECIPS. Specialists from the Militarny portal explained that we are talking about Terma PIDS+ pylons with an early warning system for a missile attack.
Front impact
“To really influence the situation at the front, it is necessary to thickly cover the entire line of contact with these aircraft, and here we are talking about the number of 40-50 units, and not about at six to ten,” the notes. the founder of BO Jet Mail, a military expert Pavel Narozhny.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) warned against being too dependent and cited two conditions necessary for Ukraine to make the most of the F-16 air defense umbrella to protect the skies, the Ukrainian Armed Forces would need a large number of F-16s. In addition, in order to use the F-16 fighters, Ukraine will also need to continue efforts to destroy Russian air defenses both in Russia’s rear and in occupied Ukraine, with the help of long- range weapons provided by the West, they. remember
ISW experts also noted that Russian “military correspondents” responded to the appearance of F-16s in Ukraine by trying to minimize the potential consequences of their appearance on the battlefield. Analysts emphasize that this directly undermines a Russian propaganda media campaign aimed at portraying the transfer of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine and other Western weapons systems as a supposed “red line.” Several Russian “military correspondents” said the Western and Ukrainian media were “hyping” the arrival of the F-16 to allegedly distract attention from battlefield failures. Some military experts also immediately began discussing how exactly Russian forces would try to shoot down the planes.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.