Ukraine’s quest for US-made F-16 fighter jets received a big boost over the weekend when US President Joe Biden gave his backing for Kyiv’s pilots to be trained to fly them.
But analysts cautioned that the jets aren’t a cure-all and have vulnerabilities that Moscow would be well aware of and could exploit.
In fact, one active duty F-16 pilot told CNN that expectations may be way too high.
“To your question about the F-16 being a difference maker. It’s not,” said the pilot, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the subject.
Here’s what you need to know about the F-16:
Most active fighter jet: According to Flight Global’s World Air Forces directory, almost 2,200 F-16s are active worldwide this year, making it the single most popular combat aircraft across the planet with 15% of the world’s fleet.
F-16s for Ukraine are expected to be older versions that have been in the fleets of US allies, especially those in Western Europe.
“There is a surplus of F-16s in Western nations, offering immediate availability and a well-established logistics trail,” said Robert Hopkins, a military aviation author and former US Air Force pilot. “There are other aircraft more capable than the F-16, but they are fewer in number and are not available to transfer,” Hopkins added.
Keeping F-16s in the sky: Analysts note that for a modern fighter jet like the F-16, training maintenance personnel can take longer than training pilots.
“I think it’s possible to teach a Ukrainian pilot to fly an F-16 in three months,” said Peter Layton, a fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute and former Royal Australian Air Force officer.
But “training maintenance personnel can take months or years, depending on the desired level of proficiency,” according to a March report on the possible F-16 transfers from the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
As for pilot training, Layton and the active F-16 pilot who spoke to CNN both say three months of training is for the basics — getting the plane up in the air, keeping it there and landing it safely. Combat roles become much more complex, however.
F-16s are easy to learn how to fly, but employing them effectively in “a dynamic threat environment” could take years, according to the pilot.
How do you hide F-16s? Then there is the question of where Ukrainian F-16s would be based.
“The advantages of transferring advanced western fighter jets in seeking air superiority are likely to be realized only if paired with large quantities of western-manufactured munitions,” the CRS report says.
Read the full analysis here.
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May 22, 2023 at 12:42PM
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