In order to boost the morale of the Ukrainian people and army, Ukrainian ** Zelensky vowed to "take revenge" in 2024 and make the Russian army "pay a terrible price". According to reference news reports, Ukraine's ** Zelensky said in a congratulatory speech a few days ago: "We have mastered the technology of F-16 fighters, and we will definitely make our enemies really feel our anger." ”
Zelensky said that in 2024, Ukraine's arsenal will be increased by at least 1 million drones, in addition to F-16 fighter jets from Western partners. Zelensky said: In 2024, it will be the year when F-16 fighters will blow up Russia.
However, the Ukrainian army then refuted the rumors: F-16 fighters have not yet flown to Ukraine. The spokesman of the Ukrainian Air Force, Ihnat, once again called for the dissemination of false information that F-16 fighter jets have been stationed in Ukraine. Previously, some United States**, including "Newsweek", said that the F-16 had arrived in Ukraine, participated in the battle and shot down the Russian warplane, which is all rumors, don't believe it.
Iñat stressed that the F-16 fighter project is progressing well, but it is not yet officially stationed at Ukrainian airfields, and it will take time for all this to happen. The U.S. side has stated that it is considering postponing the delivery of the F-16 because it will take longer to train Ukrainian pilots, and Ukrainian pilots trained in the United States are expected to complete their training until the second half of 2024. The European side has not moved much faster than the United States. The Netherlands said that the 19 F-16 fighter jets supporting Ukraine will be delivered to the Ukrainian Air Force after the second quarter of 2024, and the first batch of six fighters will be six. Previously, Denmark and the Netherlands announced in August 2023 that the first batch of six F-16 fighters supplied to Ukraine would arrive in Ukraine around the New Year.
There is also the question of the F-16 fighter jet delivery path. But this matter is a headache for NATO, and how to successfully deliver F-16 fighters to the Ukrainian Air Force has become a difficult problem. Russia has previously stated that the take-off of F-16 fighters from the airport of any NATO country to Ukraine will be regarded as an act of war, and Russia's anger will have unpredictable consequences.
Therefore, it was proposed that the F-16 fighters should be dismantled with wings and tails, loaded onto trucks, transported by land to Ukraine, and then assembled. In general, land transport in Ukraine is relatively safe. Or load the F-16 fighter jet onto a Ukrainian-owned An-124 transport plane and land at Uzhhorod International Airport in western Ukraine, which is located in the Ukrainian-Slovak border area, very close to the Uzhhorod border.
At present, countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway have pledged to provide Ukraine with a total of up to 60 F-16 fighters, all of which were produced in the 80s of the last century and have an average age of more than 40 years. But the performance is not bad, all have been upgraded by the MLU program (F-16 mid-term modification program), and have been replaced with a new generation of avionics and ** systems, with the ability to launch AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles and throw "Jedam" joint direct attack munitions (JDAM) precision-guided munitions. It is capable of using all American-made munitions in Ukraine, such as various gliding bombs, AGM-88 "Hamm" anti-radar missiles, and "Harpoon" anti-ship missiles.
Earlier, the Russian side even announced an amazing record, destroying 6 F-16 fighters. Bloggers on social media such as Russian VK and Telegram once spread a shocking news: the Russian army blew up 6 F-16 fighters in Odessa. It is rumored that the Russian Air Force dropped precision-guided gliding bombs and blew up six F-16 fighters parked at the Odessa airport.
The Russian side said that the six American-made F-16 fighters, which originally belonged to the Dutch Air Force, had just been secretly transferred from Poland to the Odessa airport in Ukraine. However, someone checked the original ** information of these ** and found that these burned F-16** were accidents filmed at a Belgian air base in 2018**.
Many Ukrainian military people believe that F-16 fighter jets can provide air cover for the Ukrainian army and suppress Russian air defense, thus giving the Ukrainian army the ability to strike at key targets in the Russian rear. The performance of the F-16 fighter is relatively balanced, the multi-purpose capability is very strong, and the air combat capability is also relatively fierce, and it can issue the first quasi-guided munition, which can immediately double the combat power of the Ukrainian Air Force. If the number of F-16 fighters is large enough, it can change the air situation on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield.
The American F-16 fighter jet is the most successful single-engine fourth-generation aircraft of all time, with many revolutionary designs, such as wing-body fusion, bubble canopy, and reclining seats.
In the history of the F-16 and Russian fighters, the F-16 was all unilaterally crushing Soviet and Russian fighters. Therefore, when the F-16 is stationed in Ukraine, it will achieve outstanding results in air operations.
For example, the Syrian-Israeli war in 1982 and Pakistan in the 80s of the last century were all F-16 bombardment Russian fighters, and the F-16 did not suffer any losses in these air battles. It is indeed incredible, the F-16 fighter has maintained a complete victory record against Russian fighters, and no Russian fighter has shot down a single Russian fighter itself.
In the 1982 air battle in the Bekaa Valley, the Israeli Air Force's F15 and F-16 fighters fired at all power, shooting down a total of 84 Syrian Air Force fighters of various types at the cost of losing several decoy drones, of which F-16 fighters shot down 45 Soviet-style fighters, including MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighters. Although this record has been questioned by some, it is undeniable that the F-16 fighter has shown excellent combat effectiveness.
Since 1986, the F-16 fighters of the Pakistan Air Force have shot down at least 16 enemy aircraft (Soviet and Indian), including 2 MiG-23 fighters, 1 Su-25 Striker, 4 Su-22 front-line bombers, 1 MiG-21 Bison fighter, 1 Su-30MKI fighter. As well as 4 Mi-8*** and 3 An-26 transport aircraft.
However, there is a big problem that the concept of modern air combat has changed a lot from a few decades ago, and it is necessary to achieve air combat superiority under a strong combat system with early warning aircraft and multi-arms cooperation. And the Ukrainian Air Force only has F-16 fighters, and without AWACS cooperation, it may not be able to gain an advantage in the contest with the Russian army.
Even the older A-50 early warning aircraft currently in service in the Russian army can add points in air supremacy operations over Ukraine, unless Ukraine can receive direct support from NATO early warning aircraft and electronic warfare aircraft.
What do you think about the upcoming big air battle in 2024?Project Sword