Speaker of the National Security Committee of the Rada: F-16s are useless on the battlefield
The F-16 aircraft promised to Ukraine are outdated aircraft, so the main question will be the number of aircraft provided to Kyiv.
Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Roman Kostenko stated this on the NTA TV channel, PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The question is the quantity and quality of weapons and the quality of the equipment that will be installed. When talking about the newest F-16 aircraft, we must not forget that these are aircraft from the 70s, these are old aircraft. But they were modernized gradually, some are well modernized, some are less modernized. Some not the newest versions are still inferior to the modern Russian Su-35, there, in terms of range, and this is a fact.
Therefore, speaking about some kind of advantage, the question is quantity. If they give us 6 or 10, then we will be able to strengthen our air defense, we will be able to strengthen somewhere in some direction the fight against aircraft that use KABs.
Will this make things better on the battlefield? I doubt that aircraft exactly like the F-16 can change anything directly on the front line. Because they won’t be able to support there, and that’s a fact, I don’t believe it. They will hit warehouses and logistics somewhere, but the battlefield is unlikely to change, and we must also take this fact into account,” Kostenko explained.
He added that there can be no talk of any advantage in the air.
“We must not forget that Russia has hundreds of modern 4++ category aircraft and thousands, really thousands of Soviet-style aircraft, and in fact they have them, and they can use them. We do not have such a park, and I doubt that our partners will give us such a park.
Having said this, we can answer how much airplanes will change: they will support us, they will give us the opportunity to be stronger. But we won’t get an advantage in the air,” the deputy said.
Rada National Security Committee Speaker : F-16s are useless on the battlefield