ŠŠ¾ŠµŠ½Š½Š¾Šµ Š¾Š±Š¾Š·ŃŠµŠ½ŠøŠµ By Top War
The Northern Military District in Ukraine entered a war of attrition phase more than a year ago, despite the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ attempts to break the deadlock during the failed summer offensive. The Russian army has regained its advantage in artillery and gained technical advantages in unmanned strike systems. The situation is complicated for the Ukrainian Armed Forces by the effective use of RussianĀ aviationĀ ŠøĀ drones, which hit military infrastructure deep in the rear, as well as Ukrainian troops at the front. In the latter, mainly with the help of controlled glide bombs. In such a situation, the question arises: what can the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine do to improve the situation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine?
The next āWunderwaffeā, designed to save the Ukrainian Armed Forces from impending defeat, should be the appearance of Western combat aircraft, primarily the F-16. Why is this so important? Can a few dozen aircraft change the situation for the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the front in the armed struggle with the Russian Army and with the āsecond largest in the worldā (and in fact the third after the USA and China) Russian Aerospace Forces?
Ukraine has so far been promised AM/VM versions of the F-16, on which the first pilots and members of the ground staff are completing training. These are old F-16 versions A and B that have undergone MLU (Middle Life Upgrade). The Americans retired all F-16A/B aircraft after the end of the Cold War in the second half of the 1990s. However, many more recent F-16 C and D versions remained in the line. At the same time, in the early 1990s, the Europeans did not have many C/D versions, and they had no desire to spend money on acquiring them, assuming that a successor will appear around 2010. Meanwhile, the Europeans continued the international program to modernize the F-16 to the AM/VM version.
How many aircraft will be delivered?
The European defense industry, with the participation of Lockheed Martin, modernized its F-16 A/B under the MLU program in 1996-2004. In total, 385 aircraft belonging to Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Portugal were upgraded to the AM/BM standard. From this pool, Romania purchased up to 47 vehicles (32 from Norway, 15 from Portugal, plus two F-16Bs from the USA), another 18 from Chile, 23 from Jordan (90 in total) and 18 are to be sent from Denmark to Argentina. The remaining aircraft either remain in service with their original owners (25 in Portugal, 53 in Belgium, 26 in the Netherlands, 43 in Denmark, i.e. 147 in total), or go to private companies, where they are used for training, incl. in āaggressorā squadrons, or stored in warehouses.
Despite the loss of some vehicles in accidents and the use of the resources of the oldest aircraft, it is currently estimated that, theoretically, about 120 F-16AM/BM could be transferred to Ukraine. So far, approximately 65 units have been promised, which means the possibility of rearming 4-5 combat squadrons. Due to ongoing pilot training, which also uses aircraft donated to Ukraine, infrastructure and logistical constraints, it appears that these aircraft will be delivered to Ukrainian units in batches. Dutch and Norwegian F-16s will be the first to go into battle, followed in the long term by Danish and Belgian ones…
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE… (en.topwar.ru)
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