• President Zelenskiy announces use of U.S.-made fighter planes
    • Ukraine has long waited for the higher-capability jets
    • Kyiv hopes they will change war, Russia vows to shoot them down

Aug 4 (Reuters) - Ukrainian pilots have started flying F-16s for operations within the nation, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, confirming the long-awaited arrival of the U.S.-made fighter jets more than 29 months since Russia’s invasion.

  • @kescusay
    link
    English
    131 month ago

    Russia vows to shoot them down

    With what?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      131 month ago

      With our 100+…

      series of explosions

      With our 50+…

      another round of explosions

      With our 10 or so…

      more explosions

      Blyat.

    • @IphtashuFitz
      link
      English
      6
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      The combo of F-16 plus AWACS plus radar guided AMRAAM’s could prove a deadly counter to Russias continued use of glide bombs. The AMRAAMs have a longer range than those glide bombs, so the Russian aircraft that are launching them could be targeted.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      51 month ago

      Quad copter drones are more comparable to artillery shells than fighter jets. Anti personal role.

  • @yesman
    link
    English
    7
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    This is very good but not war-changing. Ukraine was seriously low on combat jets full stop. F-16 can pretty much do the same job as the Migs and SUs.

    As far as dog fighting flankers, without AWACS and fuel tanker support, the capabilities of the F-16 are severely diminished. She’s got a small radar, and short range. And NATO isn’t going to let the Ukrainians have access to the top shelf armaments bc they don’t want Russia, Iran, and China reverse engineering battle captured tech.

    • @count_dongulus
      link
      English
      11 month ago

      But there is one nice improvement, at least: F-16s are able to use all missile modes for NATO munitions instead of the couple available through converted Soviet era fighters. Some important features like BVR and multi-target engagement likely don’t work, or are severely limited, with Ukraine’s MiGs.

  • @FelixCress
    link
    English
    61 month ago

    Good.

    Kerch Bridge on fire, your defence is terrified, Kerch Bridge on fire, na na na na na na na na.

  • @Plopp
    link
    English
    51 month ago

    Do they have the SAAB AWACS yet?