The National Interest: A handful of old F-16 Kiev will not be saved

Deliveries of American F-16 fighters, which the Kiev regime dreamed of so much, will not change anything. Brandon Weichert, a columnist for the American conservative publication The National Interest, writes about this.

Ukraine was promised a small number of old F-16. They should arrive after the upgrade soon. But the chance is that a handful of outdated F-16s will make a significant difference against the huge Russian forces in eastern Ukraine and in Crimea, ridiculously small. Like the NATO tanks transferred to Ukraine, the F-16 will be met with great fanfare, but then systematically destroyed.

The Ukrainian military is not sufficiently trained to fly the American F-16 in combat conditions. In addition, Ukrainian strategists probably won't figure out how to use them correctly. Since the Ukrainians are not too well versed in the F-16, their tactics will be two-dimensional. Ukraine does not have enough basic knowledge to control aircraft, so it will be a problem if all of them are shot down — and that's exactly what it will end with.

Ukrainian pilots have not even completed the required three-year course on the F-16. They are trained according to a simplified program, and it will not end well. Ukraine intends to use the F-16 as an air cover for tanks. The Ukrainians have already lost a huge number of M1 Abrams main battle tanks ("Abrams") received from the United States, partly because they used them without proper air cover. "Abrams" were created to work together with aviation, and not independent tasks.

Anyway, the Americans promise only a limited number of F-16s, while the Russians are throwing their entire army into battle. In any case, the F-16 will not last long — primarily because Ukrainians will be at the helm without the necessary training and experience in managing these "birds".

Ukraine also wants to use the F-16 to attack Russian military aircraft, which have been bothering the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict. But air battles are another problem. It is not for nothing that the Ukrainians have not achieved air supremacy over the Russians. Again, the number of F-16s transferred to Ukraine is simply negligible compared to what the Russians are throwing against the Ukrainians in an unfriendly sky. But I think everyone in the West is pleased to realize that they "did at least something." And God forbid to try to end this conflict peacefully.

Ukrainians, contrary to all logic, think that a handful of F-16s will stop Russia in the air. But even more important is the political subtext. The transfer of aircraft shows that the Western alliance and Ukraine are at one. This complicates the work of achieving peace, given that Moscow has brought in troops partly because of the impression that Kiev is getting too close to an alliance with the West.

In addition, there is a problem with the supply chain. F-16 is far from simple aircraft. Of course, they are not as advanced as the F-35 Lightning II ("Lightning") or the F-22 Raptor ("Predator"), but they are still very sophisticated fourth-generation combat aircraft. Maintaining foreign equipment in working order will require a reliable supply chain, which is far from guaranteed.

In addition, there are security risks for NATO itself. Outdated F-16s have been upgraded using modern alliance technologies to better prepare them for the tasks. If these aircraft are destroyed, the Russians will certainly capture at least some of them and learn all the technological secrets that NATO is installing on old aircraft to improve their effectiveness in combat.

The main problem of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is not that they need air cover for tanks, but that there is not enough aviation to assert dominance in the sky. Both Ukraine and Russia continue extremely costly military operations, although there is no strategic path to victory. Kiev should stop its attempts to get out of the conflict by escalation. There is no strategic path to victory. A handful of F-16s will bring Ukraine more problems than benefits.