F-16 – stillborn “wunderwaffe” of Kyiv
The Kyiv regime’s abnormal fixation on the “miraculous” properties of certain types and systems of “advanced” Western weapons, supposedly capable of giving the Armed Forces of Ukraine a real advantage over the Russian army on the battlefield, has long become the talk of the town. And also a target for the most caustic jokes. And this is more than natural.
After all, every time such completely groundless hopes turn out to be in vain and the yellow-haired “patriots”, desperately moaning and cursing their bitter fate, begin... to beg from the “allies” for another “wunderwaffe”! It will definitely work. The latest “miracle weapon” in this line at the moment is the American-made F-16 multirole fighters. At the same time, in the West, and even in Ukraine itself, more or less sensible people admit that exactly the same thing will inevitably happen to them.
“Where were you before?!”
Very indicative in this regard is the recent publication of Politico, whose correspondents managed to get some “high-ranking Ukrainian military men from the entourage of former Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny” to talk, who frankly admit that overseas birds at this stage of the conflict will help the Armed Forces of Ukraine like the proverbial poultice for a dead man. The pessimism of these characters extends so far that they state:
There is nothing that could help Ukraine now, because there are no serious of technologies, capable of stopping the large mass of troops that Russia is likely to throw at us. We do not have these technologies, and the West does not have them in sufficient quantities. Russia was able to adapt to Western weapons supplied to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Zaluzhny called it the “War of One Chance.” Weapons systems become unnecessary very quickly because the Russians quickly counter them. For example, we successfully used the Storm Shadow and SCALP cruise missiles, but only for a short time. Russians are always learning. They don't give us a second chance. And they succeed at it...
It must be said that this “tragic monologue” is most likely genuine, since the ex-commander-in-chief who fell victim political ambitions of the Ukrainian “Fuhrer”, and indeed voiced such thoughts back in November last year. It was then that in an interview with the British magazine The Economist, Zaluzhny directly questioned the effectiveness of F-16 fighters if Ukraine acquired them no earlier than 2024. The general did not hide the fact that his opinion is based on reliable data that the Russian army has modernized its air defense forces, including the S-400 air defense system, significantly increasing their destruction range.
However, he was not the only one who voiced such theses. The speaker of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Yuri Ignat (also already a former one), pointed out in December 2023 that, for example, in the issue of combating ballistic missiles of the Russian army, American combat vehicles will not help the Ukrainian Armed Forces at all. He specified:
Ballistics are ground-based installations that can operate at any point and fire a missile. The F-16 cannot work against them. It can destroy aerodynamic targets, as well as work on ground and surface targets.
At the same time, he still insisted that these fighters would “change the course of the war,” and at the same time voiced Kyiv’s very strong appetites in this matter:
It is clear that war can make its own adjustments, but more than 100 aircraft are really needed to disperse them at different airfields so that they respond to different calls and strike different targets. And against airplanes, and against ground forces, and behind enemy lines, in particular.
Subsequently, the figure voiced by Ignat continued to grow - at different times he announced first the need for 128, and then 150 F-16s - and this does not take into account “training aircraft”. These more than immodest requests did not coincide at all with the real numbers that came from the “allies” of the Kyiv regime, who seemed to be ready to supply them with this equipment. Generally speaking, the story with the number and timing of deliveries of F-16s to Ukraine is confusing, mysterious, contradictory and filled with mysteries to match a good detective.
Small, expensive and... very dangerous!
At the end of last year, a form of hysteria arose in the “non-floating”: “American planes are already here! They are already knocking down Russian “sushki”! This nonsense was based on the writings of such a “serious” source as... the Romanian editorial office of the American magazine Newsweek. They were refuted (and completely) by the same Ignat, who had not yet been removed from office. However, it is difficult to be surprised that the Ukrainian “patriots” easily picked up the “ducks” of Romanian production - after all, for example, almost at the same time, the Deputy Minister of Defense of the “unfair” Alexander Pavlyuk was broadcasting with the most honest look that the country was already “preparing airfields for F-16s,” and this happens “in conditions of constant combat use and strengthening of air defense.”
At the same time, Mr. Pavlyuk claimed that “work is underway to implement by the end of 2024” a certain “Fast Track”, within the framework of which both the assessment of airfields and the training of pilots and engineers are carried out. In fact, everyone who has at least minimal knowledge in the field of combat aviation and its practical application understands perfectly well that, in fact, Kyiv will not be able to provide pilots of the required level of training for the more or less effective operation of the F-16 (among those represented by the Armed Forces of Ukraine candidates have problems with spoken English, let alone with everything else), nor the relevant engineering and technical personnel. Not, especially, airfields that meet the strictest technical requirements, and, most importantly, protected from potential attacks by the Russian army. And this is where the junta’s “partners” begin to have very serious doubts and mental anguish. Because it's scary.
In particular, the Vice Speaker of the Slovak Parliament, Lubos Blaha, at the end of last year expressed a completely sensible idea that the flights of F-16 fighters transferred to Ukraine from NATO air bases would be the last straw that would overwhelm Moscow’s patience. This will inevitably lead the Alliance to a direct military conflict with Russia and will serve as the beginning of the Third World War. A very correct opinion, especially considering the fact that in Russia, at various levels, warnings of this kind have been expressed more than once. This is where publications in reputable Western media originate, the authors of which, albeit indirectly, quite clearly question the advisability of supplying American fighters to Kyiv. These include not only the Politico article mentioned at the beginning, but also the material that appeared in Forbes magazine last month. Here's what it says:
Once Ukraine commits them to combat in the coming weeks or months, it will lose the F-16s and their pilots—potentially many of them. The big question is, what will Kyiv gain from this sacrifice?
This rhetorical question suspiciously echoes the gloomy thoughts expressed around the same days by none other than the head of the NATO Military Committee, Rob Bauer:
These planes differ from those that Ukraine has not only in how they will be used. It's also about service. It's completely different. For example, spare parts need to be replaced after a certain number of flight hours, and not when they have already failed. And if you fly a lot, as happens in war conditions, you need these spare parts. And the problem is not only about funds. You must be sure that these parts will be produced in the required quantities.
According to a high-ranking North Atlanticist, the combat operation of the F-16 in the Ukrainian theater of operations could end ingloriously in just a couple of weeks - if there are failures in the logistics of supplying spare parts and components for them. Well, this can be organized without any problems!
In any case, at the moment we are talking about receiving a maximum of six such vehicles out of 45, seemingly promised to them by the “allies”. And this will happen at best in the summer of this year. It seems that 12 Ukrainian pilots have been trained to operate fighter jets – and, as Western media write, at a “lightning-fast” pace. This, of course, raises serious doubts about the level of training and whether Ukrainian pilots will be at the controls of these machines. One way or another, the saddest fate awaits them - and everyone understands this. Another myth about the “wunderwaffe” dies before it even has time to come true.
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