MOSCOW, 3 Sep. NATO fighter jets handed over to Ukraine will not help the Armed Forces of Ukraine because of their vulnerability to Russian air defense systems, former CIA analyst Larry Johnson said in an interview with Dialogue works YouTube channel.
«Even if they had thousands of F-16s, «Who will fly them? They can't wave a magic wand <…> to find suitable pilots. <…> In the theater of operations, they need to be countered by one of the most advanced air defense systems, they will simply be shot down,» he explained.
According to the expert, Volodymyr Zelensky was also warned that even the most advanced American fifth-generation F-35 fighters would not be able to bypass the Russian air defenses.
Johnson is convinced that it will be a harsh lesson for NATO countries that they have developed weapons without taking into account the potential of enemy defense systems.
«Russian air defense is superior to anything the West has. And all our so-called stealth technologies are vulnerable to it,” he concluded.
In mid-August, a senior White House official said that the United States had decided to approve the transfer of F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands. According to him, the Kyiv authorities will receive them from third countries after the completion of the training of pilots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, the Pentagon noted that the former Soviet republic does not yet have the necessary infrastructure to accommodate these aircraft.