MOSCOW, Sep 1 Western F-16 fighters, whose recently approved by Denmark and the Netherlands for Ukraine, they will not be able to withstand Russian air defense, writes columnist Maya Karlin in an article for 19FortyFive.
«In fact, these aircraft have never encountered Russian air defense systems in real combat. Moreover, these fourth-generation fighters, it may not be easy to outperform more advanced Russian systems such as the S-300,” the journalist said.
Another difficulty, according to the expert, is that Ukrainian pilots who are used to flying the Soviet , will have to be retrained, since the control panel on the American fighter is completely different from the Soviet model.
Earlier, a senior US administration official said that Washington had decided to approve the transfer of fourth-generation American F-16 fighter jets to Kiev from Denmark and Netherlands. The White House confirmed that Ukraine will receive combat aircraft from third countries after the completion of the training of its pilots. The Pentagon also noted that Ukraine does not yet have the necessary infrastructure to host the F-16.