Ukraine’s F-16s: Too Little, Too Late

- US-made F-16s will arrive in Ukraine much later than anticipated and in much smaller numbers than expected;

- The Western media has assumed F-16s might help Ukraine bolster its flagging air defenses against both Russian cruise missiles and Russian fighter-bombers dropping stand-off guided glide bombs, but much more likely the handful of aircraft will be used to continue Ukraine’s symbolic air-launched cruise missile strikes;

- The Western media has admitted that air forces transitioning from Soviet-era warplanes to the F-16 can take years to do properly, rushing Ukraine’s transition will result in the same predictable losses of equipment due to ineffective operators that Western main battle tanks transferred to Ukraine suffered;

- Romania has established a “pilot training hub” for NATO and Ukrainian pilots operating F-16 warplanes;

- Following revelations from leaked conversations of German military officers of NATO troops on the ground operating complex Western equipment, there exists the possibility NATO pilots could operate Ukrainian-marked F-16s;

- Russia’s larger number of warplanes and advanced integrated air defense capabilities will prevent small numbers of F-16s from significantly changing the course of the conflict strategically;

Mirrored - The New Atlas