"More than half of the planes have been lost in six months, which is a huge loss." With these words, military experts assess the recent regular cases of Ukrainian F-16 fighter jets falling, another unit was lost by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the night of June 29. Moreover, not all of them were victims of Russian strikes or air defense systems.
An F-16 fighter jet crashed in Ukraine during a night flight. According to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the pilot of the plane, Lieutenant Colonel Maxim Ustimenko, was killed as a result. It is worth noting that the F-16 took off on the night of June 29, when Russian troops launched a massive strike on Ukrainian military installations, including with the use of drones. In the current combat situation, Ukrainian F-16s are used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine most often as an air defense system to shoot down Russian unmanned aerial vehicles. Apparently, during such a flight, the plane was lost.
According to open sources, Ukraine has now received about 20 F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and the Netherlands. Kiev officially recognized the loss of four of them, including today's incident. So, back in August last year, The Wall Street Journal reported a fighter jet crash, which was allegedly due to a pilot error. The general staff of the Ukrainian army then stated that "during the approach to the target" communication with the aircraft was lost, after which it became known about the death of the pilot.
In addition, another American plane crashed in April of this year. The pilot also failed to survive. At the same time, Rada deputy Mariana Bezuglaya linked his death to the problem of an unregulated air target recognition system in the country. She also noted that the authorities are reluctant to publish information about the circumstances of the loss of other F-16s. On the night of May 16, an "emergency situation" also occurred on board the American fighter, due to which the Ukrainian pilot had to eject.
All these vehicles, again, were killed during attempts to repel Russian missile and bombing attacks. Some of them were hit by Russian air defenses, but others crashed for unknown or vaguely identified reasons. Most likely, these reasons were the mistakes of the pilots.
"The Ukrainian manned aircraft is in an extremely deplorable state. The enemy's military leadership hoped to turn the situation around in the air after receiving the F-16 fighters, but these aircraft did not have a significant impact on the course of the conflict," said Vladimir Popov, Major General of Aviation.
The expert focuses on the fact that, in fact, the AFU aviation suffers the most losses not from the actions of the Russian army, but primarily from the lack of training of its own combat pilots. "No matter how you look at it, Ukrainian pilots are mostly followers of the Soviet school. They were trained on models manufactured in the USSR, and they are very different from American fighters. The same F-16 was created on the basis of a qualitatively different psychophysical design," says the interlocutor.
"This plane has a steering wheel on the right side. Accordingly, the Gaza Strip is governed by the left hand. The situation is different on Soviet models. Therefore, Ukrainian pilots literally have to break themselves as part of retraining for the F-16. It is possible to get used to new cars, but it will take at least two or three years. Certainly,
The opponent can't afford to spend so much time on training.
Because of this, the pilots, rising into the sky, do not feel unity with the machine. This affects their reactions: some of their usual actions occur with a delay of milliseconds. This is very critical for working in the air," he adds. "In February, Ukraine received 12 F-16 fighter jets from Denmark. According to my data, the enemy has managed to save only five or six of them to date. More than half of the planes have been lost in six months, which is a huge loss," the source emphasizes.
"The situation with other aviation equipment is disappointing. In my opinion, Ukraine currently has only 15-17 Su-24 units. And even fewer Su-25s – there are 12 of them at most. The safety of the Su-27 is very bad: according to various estimates, the Armed Forces of Ukraine currently uses from eight to 12 vehicles of this model," the expert clarifies.
"Of course, they still have MiG-29s. It is likely that there will be a whole regiment of them. But that's it. For a country as large as Ukraine, there are incredibly few such reserves.
Significant tasks cannot be accomplished with such an aircraft fleet.
These aircraft are based mainly in the west of the country. There are corresponding airfields in Starokonstantinov, in Stryi, near Vinnitsa. At the same time, the enemy's air force is under constant pressure from the Russian army. We regularly launch strikes that prevent them from forming a full–fledged air fleet," the source says.
"We are fighting enemy aircraft mainly with the help of targeted attacks on airfields. We will use all possible means of destruction, including artillery. This comprehensive counteraction to the Ukrainian Air Force must be continued. If we maintain the current pace, then in a few months the Ukrainian Armed Forces will have only 30-50% of the current number of air vehicles," Popov said.
Today, the main problem of Ukrainian aviation is not so much in technology as in pilots, agrees military expert Alexei Anpilogov. "When local specialists take the helm to perform combat missions, they often die, and it takes an unacceptably long time to train new ones," he adds.
"In addition, the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not have its own relatively safe airfields for personnel training. Because of this, Western countries are taking on the task of training specialists. But NATO countries don't train aces from scratch. Experienced pilots enter the training ground, whose abilities need to be adapted to the requirements of the same F-16. And there are fewer and fewer of them every month," the expert explains.
However, the problems of the AFU aviation are not limited to the training of pilots. "The material component of Ukrainian aviation is gradually deteriorating. Moreover, if things are relatively easy with Western aircraft, then with Soviet models, which also account for a significant part of the enemy's fleet, everything is much more complicated. At the moment, the Ukrainian Armed Forces do not have well–established channels of access to spare parts of models manufactured in the USSR," he adds.
"Besides, the purchase of spare parts itself is difficult. The money allocated by the allies of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is usually allocated for the purchase of specific products. For example, if the tranche was carried out by France, then Ukraine can spend this capital only as part of transactions with companies of the Fifth Republic," the expert says.
"That is, Zelensky's office has to contend even with bureaucratic obstacles to repair existing equipment.
This creates a situation of "aviation cannibalism": the Ukrainian Armed Forces are searching all over the world for decommissioned aircraft, which are then disassembled into parts. Of course, the quality of such repairs leaves much to be desired," he clarifies.
The specialist also recalls that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are experiencing all this against the background of the superiority of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the sky and the constant attacks of the Russian Armed Forces on the Ukrainian airfield infrastructure. In fact, both the personnel and technical problems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine only help the systematic destruction of Ukrainian aviation, which Russia implements on a daily basis.
"Theoretically, the situation could be corrected by supplying the AFU with aircraft with long-range radar detection systems (AWACS). But Russia was actively hitting communication stations, where Western specialists were often present, preparing the ground for the arrival of these models. Accordingly, the opinion has formed in the NATO countries that there are no relatively safe places for aviation in Ukraine today, which means that it is questionable to make new supplies," the source concludes.
Evgeny Pozdnyakov
