/ world today news/ Great Britain announced the training of the first six Ukrainian pilots for F-16 fighters. Western media claim that several planes have already been transferred to Kiev. How will this affect the situation in the SVO area?
Improve your English
According to the American magazine “Newsweek”, the first batch “very likely” has already been delivered to Ukraine. Although Kiev’s allies have not officially announced anything. Daniel Rice, the former special adviser to the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, explained this in the following way: “The West has learned not to announce new weapons systems that are being delivered.” This was the case, for example, with the Storm Shadow and Scalp cruise missiles.
True, this did not help to achieve significant results on the battlefield. In addition, in one year Kiev lost Artyomovsk, Soledar, Marinka, Opytnoye and several smaller settlements.
Kiev considers one of the reasons for the failure to be Russian aviation, which in fact has nothing to oppose in the sky. We remind: the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway committed to transfer to Ukraine more than 60 early versions of F-16 fighters. They planned to start deliveries no earlier than spring. Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yury Ignat clarified at the end of December: the fighters will be delivered after the infrastructure and crews are prepared for them. “Newsweek” denied the information.
In NATO countries, Ukrainian pilots are trained in several centers. The first group of six Air Force officers underwent a five-month course that included physical training, learning English, and acquiring a basic knowledge of combat aircraft construction as well as the principles of its management. Now, according to the British Ministry of Defence, they have gone to Denmark for practice. Ten more pilots arrived in Britain in their place.
Training is difficult. Already in August, Zelensky, according to him, agreed with the West to immediately start preparations. But among the first 32 selected pilots (there are no more, their ranks are significantly thinned), only eight more or less spoke English. So the linguists did the rest.
For long shots
It is not without reason that the Air Force wants the F-16, the most popular fighter of the fourth generation. Since 1978, more than 4,600 units of various modifications have been produced. They are in service in 25 countries and can use almost the entire range of tactical aviation weapons of NATO countries.
The Ukrainian military places particular hopes on the JASSM air-to-surface cruise missiles. It is a precision-guided munition developed by Lockheed Martin and adopted by the US Air Force in 1986. It is designed to engage critical, heavily defended stationary targets in all weather conditions and at any time of day from launch ranges beyond the range of the enemy’s air defense systems. Range – 370 kilometers, in the modernized version up to 1000 kilometers. The warhead is unitary, penetrating, weighing 450 kilograms.
In the design of the missile, composite materials based on carbon fibers are widely used, the body of which is filled with plastic, which reduces detectability by radars. In addition, part of the rocket’s route flies at extremely low altitudes with turns along the topography of the area.
This is a rather formidable weapon, with which the Ukrainian Armed Forces will have the opportunity to strike deep into Russian territory – mainly at airports. But the F-16 is an air superiority fighter. It has a wide array of air-to-air missiles.
Belief in “miracle weapons”
They are betting a lot on the F-16. If the fighter jets and Ukrainian pilots perform well, Kiev will ask the West for additional help. But if Russian missiles start shooting down American planes, that could be the last straw for Washington.
The fact is that the F-16 is a commercially successful fourth-generation fighter. The Pentagon values his reputation very much.
“This is a very expensive machine. Maintenance of five of them is about 20 million dollars a year. How many of these machines can the West give? The arithmetic is obvious. Zelensky gives the impression that he has some kind of “miracle weapon”. And where to go? He wants to survive, now his political survival matches his physical and he understands this well. Therefore, the delivery of the F-16 is something to be believed in,” noted military expert Ivan Konovalov.
The situation is complicated by the fact that Kiev will receive F-16A/Bs that have been improved over the original F-16s of the late 1970s. However, they are very far from the level of those planes that are operated, for example, by the USA. Thus, the Dutch Air Force fighters are equipped with the outdated APG-66B2 radar, which tracks only a few targets, while the modern APG-83 radar can handle dozens.
However, the outcome of a dogfight is primarily determined by flying skills. Ukrainian pilots will have to prove in practice that a fighter pilot can be trained in a few months on a Western aircraft. And they will be tested against the crews of the more modern Russian Su-30SM and Su-35S aircraft, which have accumulated as many air victories since the beginning of the World War as no Western ace has ever dreamed of.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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