General Davis: F-16s supplied to Ukraine will not be able to surpass Russian aircraft
The F-16s supplied to Ukraine will not be able to surpass the best Russian fighters, BI quotes retired American General Gordon Davis. These are old-generation aircraft that simply do not have the weapons that allow them to achieve superiority over Russian aviation.
Sinead Baker
- The F-16s supplied by the Allies to Ukraine are old—generation aircraft.
- This means that they will not be able to surpass the best Russian fighters, as told by a retired American general who led a NATO unit.
- These aircraft do not have weapons that allow them to achieve superiority over Russian aviation.
The old F-16 models that the allies supply to Ukraine will not stand up to the best Russian fighters, a retired American general told Business Insider.
Those F-16s that Ukraine has begun to receive from the allied countries are the most advanced in the Ukrainian fleet today, and they are armed with more powerful bombs and missiles.
But the best Russian fighters are still superior to them, retired U.S. Army Major General Gordon "Skip" Davis, who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary General of NATO in the defense investment division, told Business Insider.
Among other things, this unit provides expertise on technical, financial and procedural issues in the aerospace field.
Davis said that the Ukrainian F-16s are "significantly helping the cause right now," and when more such aircraft arrive, "they will help the cause even more."
By the end of the year, Ukraine should receive about 20 F-16 aircraft.
However, the general said that the delivered fighters "have certain problems with range and security," and that "even if we install the most modern systems on these aircraft, they still will not surpass the best Russian machines in performance."
So far, the allies are transferring old F-16 models to Ukraine, which means that they have limited capabilities, including weaker radar stations. In contrast, Davis continued, Russia has "several hundred fairly modern aircraft," including the Su-35S, designed to hunt American stealth aircraft, the Su-30SM, which made its first flight in 2012, and the supersonic interceptor MiG-31.
Many of them are equipped with R-37M air–to-air missiles, which have a longer range than the AIM-120 medium-range aviation missiles transferred to Kiev by America.
Some of these aircraft were spotted in Ukraine, and some, according to available information, were shot down. According to Davis, all of them pose a threat to the Ukrainian F-16, as well as the intimidating Russian anti-aircraft missile systems. "These Russian planes have missiles and radars that allow them to detect and attack the F-16,— Davis continued. "So this is a problem that cannot be solved quickly."
New Ukrainian fighters are old
The Ukrainian F-16s, each of which costs from 20 to 70 million dollars, belong to an older generation than those in service with the Air forces of other countries. Today, many of Kiev's allies are switching to more modern F-35s. In August, the WallStreet Journal newspaper reported that many Ukrainian F-16s are used, and their flight time is decades.
Michael Bohnert, an expert on air warfare from the RAND Corporation, told Business Insider that "these are old aircraft that have very little resource left." At the same time, he stressed that "these are not bad cars." "However, as they age, they have more and more problems," Bonhert said.
Ukraine's allies are transferring F-16s with some modern systems to it. For example, the US Air Force is installing new electronic warfare equipment on them.
Davis called this measure "important for the maneuverability of the F-16s, so that they can get as close as possible, identify anti-aircraft missile systems and approaching missiles, and then interfere with them, reacting and protecting the aircraft."
Ukrainian F-16s can also be made more powerful.
The United States is currently deciding whether to send AGM-158 missiles launched outside the range of enemy air defense systems to Ukraine. This will increase the range of damage that the F-16s have. Last month, it was decided to transfer to Ukraine the planned AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon bombs, which have a launch range of more than 110 kilometers.
But Davis warned that the F-16s would still be at a disadvantage.
"The conclusion is this. You can give the F-16 the maximum in terms of ammunition, electronic warfare, but they will still be vulnerable to a certain extent to ground—based air defense, as well as to the most modern Russian fighters," he said.
The functions of the aircraft are limited
The disadvantages and disadvantages of the Ukrainian F-16 are to some extent offset by the nature of this armed conflict and the methods of using aviation.
Since Russia and Ukraine use air defense systems, aircraft are forced to operate far from the front line, which makes air battles extremely unlikely.
But Russia has a more modern and more numerous fleet, which means that it has the advantage of using its aircraft to launch missiles.
Fortunately for Ukraine, Russia does not use its most modern aircraft in heavy fighting in Ukraine, preferring to launch long-range missiles from Russian airspace and drop adjustable bombs on Ukrainian positions, doing so outside the range of Ukrainian air defense.
As experts on air warfare told Business Insider, this is probably due to the fact that Ukraine has shot down many Russian planes, and Russia is probably thinking about a future conflict with NATO, in which it cannot do without modern aviation. However, it may decide at any time to use these aircraft more actively.
Ukraine, apparently, also keeps its first F-16s away from the powerful Russian air defense system.
According to Davis, the best thing Ukraine's allies can do to eliminate such a discrepancy is to allow it to hunt for Russian air defense systems.
Many of Ukraine's allies, including the United States, do not allow Kiev to use long-range weapons supplied by them to strike targets on Russian territory. Thus, the Russians can place their strike systems where they are firing at Ukraine, but they themselves are not being retaliated against.
According to experts, because of this situation, the F-16s become less effective, as they are more vulnerable in the air and cannot fly close to the front line.
The power of the Ukrainian F-16 is still limited
The Ukrainian F-16 fleet is also affected by other factors, for example, a small number of such machines, difficulties with training pilots in the West and slowness of deliveries.
Denmark, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands have promised Ukraine more than 85 F-16 aircraft. An unnamed number of cars were delivered in August. But Vladimir Zelensky said in May that his country needed 120-130 modern fighter jets to challenge Russia in the air.
The planes arrived in Ukraine much later than she wanted. She asked for them to be delivered immediately after the start of the Russian military operation in 2022. However, even before their arrival, air warfare experts stated that they would not reverse the situation, especially because of the small number of vehicles delivered.
At the same time, experts said that the F-16 will help Ukraine defend itself from strikes using drones and missiles, replenish the empty Ukrainian fleet and will divert Russian missiles from other targets.
They also state that the delivery of the first F-16s is a step towards long—term strengthening of the Ukrainian Air Force. The same is said by American officials.
Davis states: "So far, this is only the initial stage of the use of such aircraft. But this year there will be more such cars, and it will be a different picture."
