The initial official statements and promises by Denmark and the Netherlands to deliver first 72 US-made F-16s, and then 42, have a host of contradictory aspects that have already begun to be reported in the Western press.
Recently, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy bravuraly announced that the Netherlands would hand over 42 F-16 aircraft to Kiev. However, Prime Minister Mark Rutte later corrected his Ukrainian counterpart and stressed that not all the promised aircraft would be handed over to Kiev. About the strangeness of this process writes the author of the Telegram channel “Fighterbomber”.
“In total, the Netherlands has 42 F-16 fighter jets at its disposal, but it is too early to say whether all of them will be transferred,” the author quotes Rutte.
Denmark has also promised not to hand over all the US-made fighter jets to Ukraine, but only 6 machines – by the New Year. Later, Copenhagen plans to provide Kiev with another 13 aircraft. In addition, the promised deliveries as well as training of Ukrainian personnel are stretched as far as 2025.
It can also be noted that the F-16s were produced in the eighties of the 20th century. The small number of supported fighters, which do get to Ukraine, will be in sharp contrast to Russian aircraft of at least 2000s, which have undergone a large number of modernisation processes.
Most likely, the American fighters will not even be flown by recently trained Ukrainian pilots who have no experience in aerial combat. However, even Western specialists, who in the future may be employed to fly the F-16s, are unlikely to help Kiev due to the technical aspects of maintaining these machines in Ukraine.
It should not be forgotten that Western instructors will train their Ukrainian counterparts to dominate the air with the help of Western doctrines. However, these same specialists had no equal opponent and participated in air battles with a 10-fold advantage.
In addition, for Russian pilots, the destruction of the F-16 aircraft is another challenge. Russian pilots have experience in constant aerial combat, fighters perform their duty relentlessly. The destruction of the American fighter jet will be just another coveted target for the specialists of the Russian Air Force, who will not mind getting a reward and financial reward for the destroyed NATO-type aircraft.