Why F-16s Could Be a Game Changer for Ukraine | WSJ

Trenches, bunkers close quarter fighting today. The images from the war in Ukraine resemble the brutal clashes that took place on the western front during world war I but as its counter offensive gets underway, Ukraine could soon have a new weapon that experts say could change the tide of the war by the year's end F-16s in May. President Biden said that the US will support a plan to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16. Today. I'm announcing the next tranche of us security assistance. This new F-16 policy is the first step in a lengthy process to transform Ukraine's Soviet style Air Force into a Western one. This new joint effort sends a powerful message about our unity and our long term commitment to Ukraine's self defense. These Ukrainian pilots have all of the talents and the skills to very quickly hop in an F-16. Now, you've got a combination of experienced, hardened, tough and dedicated pilots with very good Western capability and I think it's a match in a marriage made in heaven. Here's what a stronger Ukrainian air Force could mean for the future of the war and what Ukrainian pilots will need to do in order to become combat ready. This is Yuri, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force. Ukraine's Air Force is made up of Soviet vintage aircraft like the M 29. Russia's Air Force also has Cold War era jets. But post Soviet modernization has rejuvenated Russia's fleet. Ukrainian jets usually are unable to fly at high altitudes because of their vulnerability to Russian air defense missiles. According to leaked classified us military assessments, Ukraine's air defenses which rely mostly on Soviet era. S3 100 batteries are running out of missiles to deter Russian aircraft from operating in Ukrainian skies. Ukraine has argued that it needs F-16s originally developed by a consortium of four NATO nations. And the US, the F-16 has become a popular option for many nations because of its high performance and relatively low cost. There's a lot of questions about why the F-16 and I think it comes down to a simple fact of supply and demand. John Tier is a retired air force brigadier general. There are almost 5000 F-16s in the world. They have been widely proliferated to those that have been partners in security cooperation with the West. And a lot of those F-16s are resident there in Europe. In fact, there are eight countries now that are flying F-16s and five of those countries transitioning from the F-16 to the F-35, which means that they now have excess supply. The F-16 is known as a multi role fighter, which means it's a combat aircraft that can perform different types of missions. They have capability, air to air against other air adversaries and they are very flexible and capable against ground targets that's known as air to ground capability. And the marriage of both of those characteristics is one would work well for Ukraine. The Pentagon previously cited 18 months as the fastest possible timeline to train Ukrainian pilots. I don't think the transition for the Ukrainian pilots is going to be difficult at all. And I think the best indicator of how quickly they could do so is this trial run that we did recently bringing in a couple of Ukrainian experienced fighter pilots to the United States and flying them in F-16 simulators, we found out based on trial that it likely would only take four months or less. Russia's Air Force is far stronger and larger than Ukraine's. Russia doesn't just have more air force personnel, combat aircraft and attack helicopters than Ukraine. It also boasts more advanced aircraft. But while the Russian Air Force is vastly superior in numbers and technology on paper, it has so far failed to win control of Ukrainian skies. The Russians have a lot more aircraft. Ukraine is ever going to have. But if you really just look head to head, you find that the F-16s would be likely equal to the capability of fourth gen aircraft that are being flown by the Russians in Ukraine. The F-16 was also selected because of its ability to use a wide array of NATO country weapons. The more different types of weapons it can use, it gives it different combat capability, but it also allows the West and others that want to contribute weapons to the fight to be able to use those weapons on the F-16 in a variety of ways. Until recently, the White House was reluctant to supply Ukraine with F-16s because it was worried that doing so risked escalation with Russia. And because of concerns, the aircraft would not survive Russia's formidable air defenses in May. Russia warned that supplying Ukraine with F-16s would escalate the war. Biden said he had received blanket assurance from Zalenski that the jets would not be used to strike targets inside Russia and thus widen the war. It does provide an assurance to Ukraine that the United States and the West is going to be tied to them for 20 to 30 years and ultimately, it will more than any other weapon system thus far drag Ukraine into the western way of war and away from some of the Soviet era equipment, but it remains unclear which countries would provide Ukraine with the fighter jets. F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots is expected to begin within the next few weeks. Somewhere in Europe, outside of Ukraine. I think that it's reasonable with some level of risk to have that capability in the hands of the Ukrainian Air Force by the end of this year, not in large numbers, there will be a ramp up in numbers and capabilities. But I think we'll start seeing the first F-16s operationalized in Ukraine by the end of this year.

Channel: The Wall Street Journal

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Id: ezTeIXCqr_M

Length: 7min 45sec (465 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 16 2023