Jets to Ukraine: Crucial Questions Over Supplying F-16s To Kyiv
The US will assist Ukraine in receiving cutting-edge fighter jets by permitting Western allies to supply F-16s built in the US and by instructing Ukrainian pilots on how to fly the aircraft.
Hi
It would undoubtedly give Kyiv a military advantage, but the devil is in the details.
The most important concerns are how many, how quickly, and with what kind of armaments will the jets be equipped.
Nobody questions the F-16’s capabilities because it has more than proven itself in wars all around the world.
They will be an improvement over Ukraine’s Mig-29s and Su-27s from the Soviet era, which carry out comparable operations.
Jets to Ukraine: Crucial Questions Over Supplying F-16s To Kyiv
Since the F-16 radar has a wider field of view, enemy aircraft can be attacked at greater distances.
They frequently include missiles that can reach their target without the aircraft maintaining a radar lock, a capacity that Russia currently possesses but Ukraine does not.
F-16s are more effective at locating and taking down enemy ground-based radars than Ukraine’s current fighter jets at doing so.
They can also launch precision bombs that are guided by laser, GPS, and sophisticated targeting systems.
However, it is not yet known which of these capabilities Ukraine would receive if the delivery of the planes proceeds.
Training and delivery will also be a challenge for Ukraine. The computer systems on board – such as the avionics – operate in a very different way to Soviet aircraft.
In combat, pilots need to instinctively select multiple, correct modes in complex scenarios where they are at risk of being overwhelmed by rapidly developing events – a situation known as task-saturation.
Imagine as a car driver switching from a Renault to a Mercedes, and having to instantly know the position of the headlight switches, the wipers and the fog lights – all on a hugely more complicated level. It takes time and practice.
Ukrainian pilots will receive training on bespoke simulators. But it is also highly likely they would have been practising on commercially available software, which delivers a very close representation of the workflow required to operate an F-16.
Combat aircraft are most effective in packages where jets are grouped together for certain roles – all to carry out one specific mission.
For example, if the mission is to neutralise an enemy radar installation, you might want a “four-ship” comprising four jets to carry the missiles or the bombs to destroy that structure.
That role is called a Suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD) strike. But you do not want that critical flight itself to be vulnerable to attack.
So you might have another four aircraft flying ahead in a “SEAD escort” role, armed with air-to-air weapons, to protect the SEAD strike from enemy planes.
The point is all this requires many aircraft, and they need to be supported by other assets.
That would include surveillance planes to warn about enemy fighters in the area, ground maintenance crews to ensure the upkeep of the jets and having, of course, the necessary infrastructure to take off and land safely.
So the US decision to give the OK to other nations to supply F-16s marks the start of a complicated process and much work will be required to get to delivery.