Kev seriously now. When the F-16 appear this won’t bode well for the occupation of Crimea. Also, it will put more Russian aviation at risk. They can’t build enough if they don’t have western parts we all know this and the black market and China will have to be utilized. Logistics take time to change. Remember the blackmailing Countries relying on their energy needs it didn’t work out like Oligarchs expected. Now they are hunted by their leader and Western nations. Example look at the carnage in tanks it will take a decade to replace that fodder. Ukraine have just protected a land excursion on NATO. Expect more accidents deep in Russia on factories until this madness stops. Slowly this phase of the special operation could last years and years. Putin will hope to live that long to see its conclusion. Yet China grows stronger along with India Receiving ridiculous low prices for oil and gas. How many of Putin inner circle are safe? That’s the big question. Madness.
The F16 sadly is another promise to the Ukraine like the Leopard tanks that were supposed to punch through the Russian defense lines like a knife through butter that won't perform,this from US pilots...
Just learning to fly an F-16 is a small aspect of what it would take for a Ukrainian fighter pilot to be combat ready in the type.
www.thedrive.com
"Going into combat against a Su-35, even a Su-27 in contested airspace — now you’re talking about years of experience. You can’t do that with a brand-new guy who has seen everything once! You can have all the capabilities of the jet, but if the pilot doesn’t know how to use it correctly, then that’s useless. So for a pilot coming from a MiG-29, having to learn a brand-new PVI [pilot-vehicle interface] where everything looks different, use weapons that they’ve only ever read about, to give them three-months training then toss them into combat — that’s a tall order!"
