Once F16 fly over Ukraine, Russia will retreat right ?
Will Russia keep fighting ?
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PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M
Nope. Even their top military commander admitted as much in a recent interview. It will be just another "wonder weapon" out of a long line of disappointments.
They are not even modern. People forget the F-16 is a 50 year old aircraft design.
And from the countries they are sourced from you are looking at As and Bs or Block 15 or Block 20s.
So in many cases updates that are 40 to 30 years old.
They might do well against the old vanilla SU-27s or Mig 29s of the Ukrainian airforce but the Russian airforce has long since modernized.
They also are not in any numbers that matter.
Plus they don't have the pilots. One of the training grounds is already shutting down because Denmark is switching to F 35s and have trained a grand total of about 20 Ukrainian pilots.
Best estimates I can find is they will be able to field at best a single full strength squadron.
On top of that like most propaganda weapons like the F-16 and the M-1 tank Russia is also going to be issuing bounties on them. So it doesn't look like it will matter much.
And if it ends up like the Leopard tanks any damaged aircraft will need to be shipped out of country for repairs because they have no support infrastructure.
And since the NATO tank shops are taking 9 months to repair 2 tanks I don't feel confident that they would be doing aircraft repairs any faster.
Plus they will be forced to keep them in country and therefore in range of Russian attacks because Russia has made it clear that any country that lets them fly sorties out of their country will be bombed and Romania seems to have already said nope on that one.
Also unlike soviet designs American aircraft need basically pristine runways to operate out of. Probably because the US has never had an airfield in enemy range since Korea.
A Mig 29 can take off from a farmer's field. Try that with an F 16 and you will risk destroying the one engine it has.
Also I remember reading years ago Poland pulled theirs from front line service and went back to the MIG 29 as their primary fighter just because of the maintenance cost ( both money and maintenance hours).
It is a fine aircraft if you have runways well outside the battlespace and billions to flush down the toilet.
They are not even modern. People forget the F-16 is a 50 year old aircraft design.
And from the countries they are sourced from you are looking at As and Bs or Block 15 or Block 20s.
So in many cases updates that are 40 to 30 years old.
They might do well against the old vanilla SU-27s or Mig 29s of the Ukrainian airforce but the Russian airforce has long since modernized.
They also are not in any numbers that matter.
Plus they don't have the pilots. One of the training grounds is already shutting down because Denmark is switching to F 35s and have trained a grand total of about 20 Ukrainian pilots.
Best estimates I can find is they will be able to field at best a single full strength squadron.
On top of that like most propaganda weapons like the F-16 and the M-1 tank Russia is also going to be issuing bounties on them. So it doesn't look like it will matter much.
And if it ends up like the Leopard tanks any damaged aircraft will need to be shipped out of country for repairs because they have no support infrastructure.
And since the NATO tank shops are taking 9 months to repair 2 tanks I don't feel confident that they would be doing aircraft repairs any faster.
Plus they will be forced to keep them in country and therefore in range of Russian attacks because Russia has made it clear that any country that lets them fly sorties out of their country will be bombed and Romania seems to have already said nope on that one.
Also unlike soviet designs American aircraft need basically pristine runways to operate out of. Probably because the US has never had an airfield in enemy range since Korea.
A Mig 29 can take off from a farmer's field. Try that with an F 16 and you will risk destroying the one engine it has.
Also I remember reading years ago Poland pulled theirs from front line service and went back to the MIG 29 as their primary fighter just because of the maintenance cost ( both money and maintenance hours).
It is a fine aircraft if you have runways well outside the battlespace and billions to flush down the toilet.
