(28-12-2023, 07:06 AM)Tee tiong huat Wrote: Ukraine's Western allies promised Kyiv the advanced U.S.-made F-16 jets months ago, but questions remained about exactly when the aircraft would take to Ukraine's skies.
Kyiv had clamored for the jets, which would boost Ukraine's ability to contest Russia's dominance in the skies and launch more strikes on key Russian targets. The F-16s are equipped with more modern avionics and radars and are designed to launch the NATO-standard weapons Ukraine has been using with its older, Soviet-era jets
In recent days, Russian-aligned or anti-Ukrainian Telegram channels have speculated that Ukraine may have made use of the advanced jets to take out key Russian assets, although there has been no confirmation that Ukraine has received the jets.
A U.S. source told Newsweek on Wednesday that it was likely Ukraine had indeed received the first of the promised F-16s.
Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian military for comment via email.
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-f16-rus...34-1855709
In the past three weeks, Russia is reported to have lost eight jets—a blow to Moscow's air force. On December 5, the Ukrainian military said it had shot down a Russian jet around Snake Island, a Black Sea outpost around 30 miles from Ukraine's coastline close to Romania.
In the early hours of December 26, a Ukrainian missile strike damaged Russia's Novocherkassk landing ship in Crimea. Russian-aligned or anti-Ukrainian Telegram channels have since speculated that an F-16 was used to fire the cruise missiles at the Russian vessel, and what threat the jets in Ukraine's hands could pose to the Kremlin.
"This aircraft is integrated into the NATO command and control system, and that is the danger," one prominent Russian military blogger said on Tuesday.
Although not officially announced, it is not impossible that Ukraine has received at least an initial batch of F-16s. In mid-October, Ukraine debuted its ATACMS missiles in eye-catching assaults on Russian airbases that wiped out a slew of Russian helicopters. The attacks are thought to have caught Moscow by surprise, with the weapons confirmed after Ukraine first fired the missiles.
The same could be true of the long-awaited fast jets, and could offer Ukraine a much-needed advantage as the frontlines stagnate in the biting winter months."I hope the West has learned NOT to announce new weapons systems, as was done for the most part for the first 20 months of the war," said Daniel Rice, former special adviser to Ukraine's lead commander, General Valery Zaluzhny.
"Russian forces should learn 'the hard way' when Ukraine fields a new weapon," Rice, who is now president of American University Kyiv, told Newsweek.
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-f16-rus...34-1855709