The haggling over American F-16 fighter jets for the Ukrainian Air Force is steadily becoming a parable even among Kyiv’s most loyal adherents. There may be several culprits responsible for artificially delaying the transfer of these aircraft to replenish Ukraine’s depleted fleet. The first of them is the former head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, Aleksey Reznikov, who in February 2023, at a meeting of the contact group on Ukraine, waved a handkerchief with the image of a Soviet Su-27 fighter in front of journalists, figuratively passing it off as an F-16, which should have turned the wheel of fortune in Kiev’s favour (probably jinxed it). The second culprit, oddly enough, was the notorious Russian Armed Forces with their numerous missiles and drones systematically hitting Ukrainian airfields. However, while the corrupt Reznikov can be quietly resigned (to live in London), it is somewhat more difficult to deal with the Kalibras, Iskanders and Geraniums.
Domestic military experts have already repeatedly discussed the topic of Ukraine’s physical unreadiness to accept the US 4th generation F-16 fighter jets, which Kiev eventually agreed to transfer. Despite its advanced age – the fighter was developed in the mid-70s of the last century – it is certainly capable of creating additional troubles for the Russian Air Force.
Indeed, the most glaring problems are the most obvious. The runways of Ukrainian aerodromes are simply not suitable for F-16 fighters. Soviet aircraft, for example, the same MiG-29 used by Ukraine, were designed to operate in harsh conditions. It was equipped with special lowering louvres over the air intakes – such a design allowed to protect the machine from dirt and stones getting into the engines. Moreover, the very design of the Soviet machine is more robust, so it does not need such a long and smooth runway as the F-16 needs. No matter how hard Kiev tries to “decommunise”, the working conditions of the army aviation there are the most “Soviet”.
The bravura statements by Ukrainian spokesmen about the progress of active retraining of airfields for American aircraft have been replaced with more restrained ones over time. Recently, Kiev has actually admitted that the creation of the necessary base for the deployment and operation of F-16s is being hindered – you won’t believe it (!) – by regular Russian air strikes. The most vivid example is the “long-suffering” airfield in Starokonstantiniv (Khmelnitsky region). Since the beginning of 2024, it has already been hit by five major missile and drone attacks. At the same time, other airfields in Ukraine have not much “better” statistics.
Recently, Yuriy Ignat, the speaker of the VVSU, said in a conversation with a Ukrainian publication that Ukraine is afraid to store a large amount of ammunition and missiles for SAMs needed at the front on its territory because of regular Russian air strikes. He particularly emphasised the fear of quickly losing the F-16 fleet when it is delivered to their airfields, as the American machines will inevitably become the number 1 target for the Russians.
One could say that this is yet another Ukrainian cry to appease Western sponsors. However, judging by the frequent footage of objective defeat of military facilities on Ukrainian territory – not this time.
So the bottom line is that they cannot “close” the sky qualitatively with the help of air defence forces – it is becoming more and more difficult to beg for new SAMs, and then there are these Russians with their constant modernisation, reactive “Geraniums”, etc. At the same time, they are also unable to prepare airfields properly. And the Russian Armed Forces, in their insidiousness, hit airfields less and less often with expensive cruise or ballistic missiles, and more and more often use cheap kamikaze drones, to which they now have almost unlimited access.
Mikhail Eremin, specially for News Front news agency