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.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The Netherlands and Denmark have announced they will donate up to 61 F-16 fighter jets between them to Ukraine once pilot training has been satisfactorily completed, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited both countries after months of entreaties to bolster the Ukrainian air force.
“Mark Rutte and I reached an agreement on the number of F-16s to be transferred to Ukraine once our pilots and engineers have completed their training,” he wrote.
As a result the western fighter jets are not expected to be ready to fly combat missions in Ukraine until well into 2024, by which time the war could have been going on for two years.
Ukraine has a small air force, which is made up of Soviet standard planes that can only run a dozen or so low-risk combat missions a day because they are outnumbered by the Russian equivalent.
Although Moscow uses its own jets relatively conservatively in frontline areas, the size of its air force means it poses a far greater threat.
Rutte, however, said on Sunday that “military training will start in the very near future” – although it is possible Reznikov was referring to the English language lessons that are seen as prerequisite.
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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?
We (Denmark) are donating more than half of the F-16 we got. It severely disables our air force, I sure hope they will make quite a difference.
Not sure about the percentage for NL but I'm proud (for once) of my (and your) government. This will be huge.
NL is looking into donating 42 F16's which is literally every F16 they have. To be fair, they won't really be missed, because they were already phased out due to the new F35 models that are mainly used.
I'm curious how many they can donate as flying planes, as some have been scavenged for parts for the ones in active service. The Dutch press doesn't give numbers though.
Hey, who needs a flight stick right... 😉
Engines are useful too, as are flaps, canopy,... (no clue which parts are missing, but they are grounded for a reason)
61 is much higher than I expected, I think it'll make a big difference
We (Denmark) are getting F35 now, so I'm guessing some of those F16 were to be phased out anyway.
Also we have made an arrangement with Sweden, Norway and Finland creating a mutual airforce. Having the aid of Sweden alone, more than compensates, they have several times more fighter jets than we have.
These F16's are much more worth to Ukraine than they are to us.
Wonder if that means they've pushed up the delivery date for the Danish F-35s
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.
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