American-made F-16 fighter jets due to arrive in Ukraine this summer are “no longer relevant”, a senior Ukrainian military official has said.

Before their arrival, the Western warplanes had been held up by some as a potential war-winner that could turn the tide of the conflict in Kyiv’s favour.

“Often, we just don’t get the weapons systems at the time we need them – they come when they’re no longer relevant,” a Ukrainian high-ranking officer told the Politico news website.

“Every weapon has its own right time. F-16s were needed in 2023; they won’t be right for 2024.”

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  • GaryLeChat
    47·
    3 months ago

    Here’s your chance comrades! It’s time to guess what the next wonder weapon that wins the war will be!!

  • DankZedong A
    361·
    3 months ago

    But according to Dutch libs Ukraine will win the war with the two and a half F16s we are going to send!

  • MeowZedong
    35·
    3 months ago

    These articles are a health hazard. If my eyes roll any harder, they’ll end up permanently stuck facing the back of my head.

    • multitotalOP
      25·
      3 months ago

      Milei is the new “libertarian” (read: neoliberal) darling.

    • multitotalOP
      24·
      3 months ago

      Ukraine doesn’t have the know-how or logistics to maintain F-16s, hence the long waiting period. Any airfields in Ukraine with F-16s are likely to get struck and destroyed quickly by Russia.

      It is a repeat of the Leopard, Challenger, Abrams tanks. The West postponed sending them as long as possible because they knew they’d get destroyed and wouldn’t live up to the hype. But boy did the hype feel good.

      I’m guessing they’re negotiating for Poland to fix/maintain F-16s to then transport them back to Ukraine because no way will they actually take-off and land in Poland. They do the same with Leopard tanks and Caesar SPGs, they get shipped to the EU for repairs. I imagine Poland is being difficult about it because of the protests and the unpopularity of supporting Ukraine military among the Polish population, hence the delay.

      All of these deals and arrangements happen behind closed doors.

      • PolandIsAStateOfMind
        20·
        3 months ago

        I’m guessing they’re negotiating for Poland to fix/maintain F-16s

        Poland can’t even maintain their own F16’s, because the deal with US was so shitty that most of things above routine maintenance has to be done by US personnel and parts are apparently so expensive that around half up to 2/3rd are unable to flight with many being cannibalised for parts.

    • ComradeSalad
      13·
      3 months ago

      Would they even face Russian air defense? F-16’s are fast and nimble interceptors and area defense fighters, meaning they would be in the rear defending against Russian CAS, bombers, cruise missiles, and drones. They are more a defensive weapon then an offensive one, and their offensive capabilities are not that strong since that’s not their foray. Yes you can strap bombs to them, but that’s not their purpose.

      • Kaplya@hexbear.netEnglish
        10·
        3 months ago

        How can F-16s engage without getting into Russian air defense range?

        Mavericks air to ground has a 20km range. AMRAAM air to air is about 100km.

        A Russian S-400 has 400km operational range. At the start of the war, a S-400 in south Belarus turned on its radar for a few minutes and shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 all the way in Kyiv, which then crashed into an apartment building and the Ukrainians proceeded to blame the Russians for targeting civilian structures.

    • Fapper_McFapper@lemm.ee
      32·
      3 months ago

      Ukraine sent a Cessna 152 packed to the gills with explosives and blew up one of their drone factories 800km from the front line. I don’t think they’ve prepared enough.

        • ComradeSalad
          1·
          3 months ago

          Shouldn’t they be extremely suspicious of an unscheduled random civilian plane crossing the border of an active war zone and refusing all radio contact while approaching a military base?

  • CicadaSpectre
    25·
    3 months ago

    They’re irrelevant because the Ghost of Kyiv is single handedly trashing Russia’s air force. /s

  • EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    24·
    3 months ago

    Bro gimme some of them F-35s bro. Bro you have Israel some do you like them more than me or something bro? Bro come on bro I just need like 20 bro. Bro come on I’m not gonna ask for anything else bro.

  • Kaplya@hexbear.netEnglish
    91·
    3 months ago

    F-16s are not going to help. They need state-of-the-art F-35 stealth multirole fighters if they want to have a chance.

    The US has more than 700 F-35s, and the Ukrainians need to have access to as many of them as possible for a coordinated strike to stand a chance against Russia.

    • NikkiB
      12·
      3 months ago

      I’m not sure that Ukraine has the infrastructure needed to support any number of f-35s, especially not since the Russians have bombed all their runways.