F-16s are already in Ukraine

The main hope for the F-16 is to get rid of Russian KABs, which have become the bane of the ZSU. The advantage these aircraft have over the Soviet aircraft, which the ZSU has, is the range of air-to-air missiles.

Together with the fighter aircraft, Ukraine was provided with AIM-120 missiles of a new modification, which hit at 160 kilometres. They will make it possible to shoot down Russian aircraft dropping KABs from a distance of 30-80 kilometres from the front line.

Most likely, the Russians will respond to this by intensifying their fighter aviation operations, i.e. they will also hunt F-16s. Especially since the Russian Su-35 and MiG-31 are armed with R-37 missiles with a range of 200 kilometres. This will allow them to shoot down F-16s at an even greater distance than F-16s can shoot down Russian aircraft.

But the thing is that it is still necessary to detect the F-16 at such a distance, which is possible only by ground radars with the subsequent transmission of target coordinates to the aircraft. In principle, the Russians have something to detect F-16s, the range of the S-400 is more than 200 kilometres, which is enough to cover the entire front.

In order to make it as difficult as possible for the Russians to detect F-16s at such a distance, SAMs are systematically knocking out air defence systems such as S-300 and S-400. It is the destruction of such radars that our ATAKAMS are engaged in, with a kill radius of 170-300 kilometres. So, of course, it will not be easy, there will be a serious fight in the sky, but at least we have at least some opportunities.

F-16 can also drop Western analogues of KABs, but it is unlikely that Ukraine will be able to use these machines to increase the density of strikes with bombs to the Russian level. For this purpose, we need much more bombs and carriers. Dozens of such aircraft are needed.

In addition, there is still the problem of keeping these aircraft on the ground, the enemy has repeatedly struck airfields where our MIGs are based.

Anyway, the F-16 is a much more modern fighter than Ukraine had before. And with reasonable use and well-planned operations, it can bring a lot of benefits to the AFU. In any case, it is a serious strengthening of Ukraine's air defence system.

This is reported by The Telegraph