It's basically impossible to keep something like this a secret. The pilots have been in training a long time and they're not just sending planes, but also the means to maintain them.

Besides there are dangers in keeping it secret. Having F-16s suddenly doing attack runs on the Russian military out of nowhere could result in the Kremlin coming to the wrong conclusions.

[–] FrostyTrichs@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

This isn't lost on me, but other articles have mentioned that Ukraine has been requesting countries not announce things related to F-16 arrivals.

[–] snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 months ago

It's a general opsec principle, yes everyone else might know what you're doing but why hand them info for free?

[–] vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 4 months ago

It’s not the easiest thing to hide. They look very distinctive and make a lot of noise.