The Danish Ministry of Defense recently issued a statement saying that according to the current schedule, Denmark is expected to provide Ukraine with 19 American-made F-16 fighter jets in the second quarter of this year. Now the main task is to complete the pilot training of Ukrainian pilots.
Screenshot of the Kyiv Independent** report.
* This is bad news for Ukraine, the report said. The delivery of the first Danish F-16 fighter jets has been delayed by up to six months, hitting Ukraine's plans to challenge Russia in the air in early 2024.
Screenshot of the Newsweek report.
In the second half of 2023, the United States announced the approval of Denmark and the Netherlands to supply F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov then warned that the presence of nuclear-capable F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine would be regarded by Russia as a nuclear threat from the West.
Earlier, the Ukrainian military said that Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets are expected to be delivered in early 2024. Now Denmark has announced the postponement of the delivery time, and Wei Dongxu, a military commentator on global information broadcasting of Radio and Television Station, analyzed and pointed out that the West has repeatedly released "smoke bombs" in aiding Ukraine, and the delivery time has been said to be backward, so that the Ukrainian army has a certain degree of concealment when receiving equipment, and there is a certain suddenness when using it. But at present, the likelihood of this for the F-16 fighter is relatively low. Then it is quite possible that NATO member countries are really having difficulties with the delivery of F-16 fighters.
First of all, training is difficult. Ukrainian Air Force pilots used to mainly operate Soviet fighters such as MiG-29 and Su-27, but now they have changed to fly F-16, and the training cycle will be longer. In addition, the level of pilots of the Ukrainian Air Force is uneven, and there may be some who will lag behind.
Secondly, it is difficult to maintain and guarantee. The Ukrainian Air Force needs to build a complete ground support system for the F-16 and even upgrade the airbase and airfield runway.
Finally, perhaps the West is afraid of setting itself on fire. The West needs to set rules for the Ukrainian army and set limits on the use of the F-16. For example, in the course of the battle with Russian fighters, the Ukrainian army cannot fly the F-16 into the airspace of the surrounding NATO member states, and there is still a lot of coordination work to be done.
Wei Dongxu believes that for the F-16 fighters that will appear in the front-line fire area this year, the Russian army will take the following countermeasures:
Preemptive. Once the F-16 fighter jets provided by the West enter the relevant areas of Ukraine, the Russian army will use intelligence means to lock on the airfields and air bases where it is deployed, and the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Black Sea Fleet will use long-range cruise missiles to launch strikes, either so that these F-16s will be destroyed on the ground before they can take off into combat, or they will destroy the relevant runways and airport facilities, making it difficult for them to rise into the air.
Actively defend and take the initiative to meet the battle. The Russian army will deploy more radars and anti-aircraft missiles in front-line areas to protect ground combat units. The Russian Aerospace Forces will also deploy more advanced fighters in the front-line area, which have more advantages in performance and integrated combat capabilities to suppress the activity of the F-16.
The Russian military will also motivate its pilots to actively shoot down F-16 fighters in the form of commendations or awards.
Material**丨Global Information Broadcasting "Live World".
Reporter from the main station丨Wei Dongxu.
Editor丨Li Hao, Yang Nan.
Signed丨Zhang Ling, Jiang Aimin.