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Written by Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst
Much has been said about the F-16, a US-made fighter that the Neo-Nazi junta has been “begmanding” for the last two years. Its frontman Volodymyr Zelensky insists it will “help close the sky” over Ukraine, obviously referring to the political West’s much-touted “no-fly zones”, a euphemism for US/NATO aggression against numerous helpless countries around the world. It seems nobody told Zelensky that such strategies don’t really work against the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS). And yet, the Kiev regime and the political West insist F-16s will “help Ukraine even the odds”. To make sure they can operate from Ukraine, there’s been a massive repurposing of both military and civilian infrastructure to enable the F-16’s proper accommodation.
However, precisely this is a clear indicator of the F-16’s major flaw that not even the political West bothers to hide – logistics and maintenance. The “Fighting Falcon”, despite being a single-engine design, is much more maintenance-heavy and less robust than even the twin-engine MiG-29s and Su-27s that the Kiev regime inherited. Recent footage of a MiG-29 that flew back to its base after one of its engines was hit shows just how robust these Soviet-made jets are. Apart from being much more sensitive, the simple fact that the F-16 is a single-engine design means that it would be impossible for it to accomplish a similar feat. What’s more, Ukrainian pilots themselves have warned that Soviet-era jets they’ve inherited are superior in most aspects. Despite this, the Neo-Nazi junta is adamant that getting F-16s will be a supposed “game changer”.
So far, NATO offered approximately 60 jets owned by the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and Denmark, but the Kiev regime has already complained it needs at least a hundred more, while also demanding they be modernized. Numerous issues with personnel training are also slowing down the process. And yet, this is only the tip of the iceberg. According to Politico, getting the jets flying “will be hugely difficult”. The airbases that are supposed to house F-16s “will be prime targets for Russian attack, the planes themselves will be marked by Russian air defense systems, repairing them will be a challenge and even using unprepared runways could sabotage the delicate aircraft”. It should be noted that InfoBRICS predicted such issues years ago, while Politico just confirmed it all by interviewing a retired US military pilot Tom Richter.
“If you ever walked up and put your hands on a MiG-29 at an air show and then walked right over and put your hands on an F-16, you can feel just from the outside how the F-16 is highly engineered. It is a prima donna, and it is very sensitive and needs high maintenance,” said Richter, who has flown the F-16 when in the National Guard, adding: “The Soviet planes are more rough and tumble and can fly off poorly maintained airfields, and need less maintenance.”
Politico admits that, in a different situation, the Neo-Nazi junta would build modern bases and runways to host the jets, but that this is impossible during the ongoing conflict. In other words, F-16s aren’t built for high-intensity warfare against a near-peer adversary, but are more accustomed to fighting largely helpless countries targeted by the political West. On the other hand, the Soviet Union/Russia built its military to fight any opponent while being able to survive the horrible conditions of actual warfare.
“Falcons indeed need some adaptation — this is the preparation of the runways because the landing gear is more delicate [than] in the MiGs, the wheels are small, the air intakes are low to the strip, there may be a danger of swallowing objects,” Yuriy Ihnat, the Kiev regime forces spokesman, told Politico.
It should be noted that Ihnat, although (in)famous for bragging about the Neo-Nazi junta supposedly shooting down six “Kinzhal” hypersonic missiles at once (while being unable to do the same with the three times slower and less maneuverable “Oniks”), is right in this case. Justin Bronk of the London-based RUSI also confirmed this, saying that maintenance crews will have to “use sealant to cover cracks and crevices or uneven concrete on runways as close to the frontline as possible to avoid making an obvious target out of just a few well-maintained sites”.
“For a start, runways and taxi routes at multiple sites will need to be smooth and constantly checked for debris given how susceptible the low-slung, single-engine F-16s are to ground debris compared to MiG-29s,” Bronk warned.
Politico admits that’s a drastic change, adding that the Kiev regime had 71 Su-27 and MiG-29 fighters, 14 Su-24M tactical bombers and 31 Su-25 close air support (CAS) jets back in early 2022, further claiming this now stands at 78 combat aircraft, nearly half of which are modernized former Warsaw Pact jets provided by NATO, specifically Slovakia and Poland. Quoting the Danish Ministry of Defense, Politico also stated that the Neo-Nazi junta will receive F-16s only after all the conditions for their housing are met. This includes the requirement to make sure everything from toolkits to spare parts and stands is in place — along with equipment to safely manage hydrazine, a highly flammable liquid used to power the F-16’s emergency backup system. This fact alone is surely very interesting to the Russian military.
According to Bronk, apart from Ukrainian pilots and ground crews who are undergoing training to fly and maintain F-16s, it’s almost certain that highly-specialized Western contractors will also need to be in the country to oversee work, which is yet another proof of NATO involvement. At the same time, the Kiev regime will need to hide both the jets and these Western contractors from Russian ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) assets, particularly military intelligence and space-based surveillance. All this is without even taking into account Moscow’s world-class air superiority fighter jets such as the Su-35S which already broke several world records in terms of simultaneous downing of up to half a dozen enemy aircraft at once. Not to mention the deadlier next-generation Su-57 that is seeing more action lately.
i laik dieks, waif to
fools overture
big problem here is that these guys will be straight out of flight training, straight into a fully armed f16, and straight into a real war zone with zero combat experience. against? combat experienced pilots. even with the best will in the world, like lambs to the slaughter sadly.
it’s not going to be air-to-air combat. sams will shoot them down.
sam doesn’t even need to get involved. samantha with a slingshot will do.
i throw my pickle jar at them!
nato is keen to reenact the charge of the light brigade in the skies over ukraine. perhaps, in lieu of an epic poem by lord tennyson, a transgender non-binarian person-of-colour will perform a rap about it?
if the world is lucky, the british isles will lay at the bottom of the sea when all the dust settles.
why is zelensky begging for outdated airplanes instead of begging for f-35s and f-22s? and why is this not mentioned in this article? did these two airplane types drop into a black hole?
true, it’s a great opportunity for the pentagon, to have the russians shoot down an f-35 and then figure out how to fix all the bugs in it.
their price is many times higher and the training they require. in addition, the west cannot afford new “leopard”, “abrams” and “patriot” uproar. they were supposed to be miracle weapons. the f-22 project was stopped because they lost to indian sukhoi and migs in a combat exercise. the f-35, on the other hand, is unfinished…
actually sending the whole f-16 to ukraine is as stupid as sending any weapon system so far. western countries are leaking more money. completely stupid. everyone knows what’s going to happen.