Ukraine cannot operate Soviet fighters and Western F-16s at the same time

“Different countries have one, maximum two types of aircraft in operation. Currently, Ukraine uses four types of Soviet aircraft. We would also like to use Western F-16s. However, it would be very difficult to maintain and operate several different types of aircraft at the same time,” UNIAN news agency (Ukraine) quoted the Advisor to the Commander of the Air Force of the Armed Forces, Yury Ignat.

According to Mr. Ignat, this situation will become more complicated if, in addition to F-16 fighters, Swedish Gripen fighter jets are also transferred to Ukraine.

Since the beginning of Russia's special military operation, Kiev has been asking Western sponsors to provide fighter jets, but the West has long ruled out such a possibility. Then the United States changed its position on this issue. In May 2023, US President Joe Biden said that Washington would not object to the transfer of US F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Subsequently, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium promised to transfer these fighters to Kiev, and a number of other NATO countries began training and educating Ukrainian soldiers on F-16s.

However, the process of transferring F-16s to Kiev has been continuously delayed until now.

Retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenok, a Russian military expert, said that it would be difficult for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to operate Western aircraft alongside Soviet and Russian aircraft if the West did not provide significant technical support to Kiev.

However, according to Colonel Khodarenok, the assessment of the representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine about the inevitable transition to Western aviation technology is reasonable. Because the Ukrainian industry is not capable of producing its own combat aircraft.

Expert Khodarenok believes that at present the question remains open as to how many F-16s Kiev will actually receive, since Western countries are clearly in no hurry to deliver them to crews.

Meanwhile, analyst Roman Gusarov said that Ukraine would not be able to operate F-16 fighter jets on its territory without the direct participation of experts from NATO countries.

Any combat vehicle is a very complex complex, and it is impossible to become a first-class pilot in a few months, Mr. Gusarov added. It takes years to train aviation forces. F-16 fighters cannot be simply purchased "turnkey".

Moreover, analysts say that the F-16s themselves sent to Ukraine are no longer used by European countries, due to high flight hours and wear and tear, and have essentially been decommissioned and scrapped.

Most importantly, NATO countries are not ready to engage in direct conflict with Russia by sending their F-16s from European airfields or sending their specialists to Ukraine./.