Airsupport is what the offensive is missing, isn’t it? Ukraine is already making small gains, so let’s hope this will turn that into bigger gains.
Slava Ukraini.
Plus from all the armor UA requested, got only a fragment of it and heavily rationed.
Also artillery shells, I heard.
I thought another country was considering donating F-16’s a while back, but it fell through because Ukrainian air force pilots had no F-16 training. Was that just an unsubstantiated rumor or did something change between then and now?
I think the US has started training Ukrainian pilots for f16. It’ll still take a while before they’re fully trained though.
While any aid is good aid IMO, I do wonder how much will this contribute to the liberation of Eastern Ukraine? I mean, 61 isn’t that much right?
Consider that as of 2022, Russia apparently had about 87-90 each of the MiG-29/31, and only 6 of their newest MiG-35.
So adding (up to) 61 F-16s is no small reinforcement.
Nobody actually cares much for the jets per se . It’s the capability to fire NATO supplied missiles properly (the jury-rigged setups for their MiGs right now is often very limited) that is the valued bonus of getting F-16.
That’s nearly a 10% increase in Ukraine’s aircraft, and it’s a much more advance jet than they currently fly. If used properly this could be huge.