Although they have been upgraded to some extent, these planes date back to the 1970s or 1980s. They are not game changers. They might boost morale, but once they arrive (in three to six months or more), they won’t change the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kiev’s F-16s will likely come from stocks in Norway, Greece, Denmark or the Netherlands, most likely the latter. The Netherlands said negotiations are underway between it and Ukraine to donate the aircraft. These are older versions of the F-16 (F-16A\/B) that were partially upgraded in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike Taiwan’s newer and upgraded F-16s, Ukraine’s will not have an advanced AESA radar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many demands<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The fighters will be able to carry air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons, including the AIM 120 medium-range radar-guided air-to-air missile. They are better than the Ukrainian Mig-29s they are meant to replace and much easier to operate. But for Kiev to deploy these jets, repair facilities will be needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Setting up a repair facility in Ukraine could take more than a year, and training staff even longer. Keeping these planes in the air requires being able to repair sophisticated components such as radar or remove and replace damaged ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Radar software, computers and other systems need to be maintained and, where necessary, upgraded as threats evolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Flawless corridors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Only the fastest and easiest replacement of parts is likely to be attempted within Ukraine. Otherwise, service will have to be done in Europe, probably in the country of origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along with the electronics, these F-16s have a General Electric F-110 engine that will need to be overhauled overseas. This particular fighter requires flawless long runways, which may not always be available in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They may have to operate with half loads to take off from smaller runways, and rough conditions may cause damage to either the aircraft’s fuselage or equipment. One building block to improving its average lifespan was repairing cracks in the fuselage, especially the critical bulkheads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These repairs proved beneficial enough to extend the life of the aircraft towards the end of the schedule, which the Dutch Air Force has set at around 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Electronic warfare<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But the calculation for withdrawal time has mainly taken into account that there are very good corridors, constant inspection and maintenance. End-of-life aircraft are not the best platforms for critical and sustained combat operations, especially at high tempo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The biggest improvement for Ukraine is having a good platform to launch the AIM-120 air-to-air missile. In practice, this means that enemy aircraft and ground installations could potentially jam the AIM-120 radar or its associated communications. A feature of the Ukraine war is Russia’s powerful and effective electronic warfare systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the first time a European force has actually operated in such a dense electronic warfare (EW) environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Air defense systems<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A more serious problem for all Ukrainian aircraft is posed by Russia’s air defense systems. These may limit the F-16’s ability to get close enough to some sensitive Russian installations \u2013 especially in Crimea, where the S-400 air defense system is installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All things considered, Ukraine badly needs the F-16 as its air force is depleted and its existing stockpile of fighter jets, if it continues to fly, uses degraded equipment damaged by the demands of the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are only a few stocks of used, capable aircraft. Ukraine probably won’t get any more Mig-29s or Su-27s because none are available for purchase or transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along with F-16s potentially available from Norway, Greece, Denmark and the Netherlands, the other contender is the Panavia Tornado. Germany has a few, as do Italy and the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moral stimulation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ukrainians have not asked for them and, in fact, they are no longer any equivalent to most of the top Russian aircraft. Used F-16s at the end of their life are not going to really change the war game. Their arrival, however, will boost Ukraine’s morale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Now that President Biden has agreed that NATO members can train Ukrainian F-16 pilots, it is possible that Ukraine will acquire old F-16A\/B aircraft….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2362,7,3830],"tags":[58,1156,1976,3395],"class_list":["post-13943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-science","category-research","category-war-in-ukraine","tag-russia","tag-ukraine","tag-war","tag-war-in-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13945,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13943\/revisions\/13945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/image-137.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
The AIM-120 is a beyond-visual-range missile that combines updates from the launch aircraft with autonomous operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n