The estimates of Ukrainian and American experts, who spoke to “Sky News Arabia”, ranged between launching the counterattack devoid of these fighters to secure the skies of the Ukrainian front as a “collective suicide”, and that their use did not make a difference due to their weakness against Russian fighters, in addition to their exorbitant cost. And pilots need a lot of time to train on them.
Ukrainian authorities have high hopes of getting the American-made F-16 within months, especially since most of its air fleet dates back to the Soviet era.
Ukraine’s weapons in the attack
In its counterattack, Ukrainian forces are expected to use their old Soviet weapons, as well as modern launchers and advanced weaponry provided by their NATO allies, including:
Su-25 attack fighters and MiG-29 interceptors.
• Turkish drones “Bayraktar-2”.
• US “HIMARS” and “Patriot” missile launchers.
Soviet surface-to-air missiles “S-300”.
• French guns “Caesar”, “Beaufort-L-70” and another “M777”.
• American “HARM” missiles.
• Gvozdica guns and howitzers of the D-30 and D-20 models.
• Soviet tanks “T-72”, German “Leopard 2” and American “Abrams”.
• American “M-113” and “Bradley” vehicles, and German “Marder” combat vehicles.
• The British “Challenger 2”, “Storm-Shadow” and American “Javelin” anti-tank missiles, as well as the Swedish “Carl Gustav” rifles.
• “Striker” personnel carriers and “MRAP” anti-mine vehicles.
Last Wednesday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov confirmed in an interview with NHK that his country would not be able to use the F-16 in its counterattack. Because training pilots and technicians takes time, they will likely be in use next fall or winter.
“military disaster”
Retired Ukrainian Major General Sergey Krivonos warned in an interview with “Priamoy” TV channel against continuing the attack without these fighters, saying: “We were hoping to get the ‘F -16 “but it was decided not to supply us with that.”
Referring to the seriousness of the situation, from what he observes, he added: “If I were at the head of the army, I would have ordered the cancellation of all movements, because with the current weapons , the counter-attack could turn into a disaster, because it would become an easy target for the Russian army,” according to the Russian agency “Novosti”.
This will not change the war equation.
Contrary to this pessimism, US military expert Peter Alex supports launching the counterattack before the F-16 arrived, justifying this by telling Sky News Arabia:
• Training pilots on professional flights with him will take several months. • Giving Ukraine old versions of the “F-16” that will not allow it to keep up with modern Russian aircraft. • The operating cost of the advanced “F-16”. , its maintenance and ammunition are about 200 million dollars during the year • Supporting Ukraine with the “F-16” can accelerate the pace of war, without giving the military superiority over the ground.
aerial tie
Military analyst John Courtney agrees with Alex on some points, adding:
• These fighters can provide air parity only in terms of getting as far away from the Russian Air Force as possible, but they are unable to keep up with Russian fighter planes. • Western weapons of the long-range “air-to-air” missile model “AIM-120” are an ideal choice for the Ukrainian forces.
After US clearance, Norway announced the sale of 32 used F-16 fighters to Romania, and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gar Storr did not rule out handing them over to Ukraine , according to European media.
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