FILED - 07 February 2023, Rhineland-Palatinate, Spangdahlem: An F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft has its landing gear extended to land at the U.S. military airfield at Spangdahlem. Ukraine is a step closer in its efforts to obtain modern Western fighter jets for its defensive campaign against Russia. Britain and the Netherlands want to build an international coalition to help Ukraine procure U.S. F-16 jets, a British government spokesman said Tuesday night, according to the PA news agency. Photo: Harald Tittel/dpa (Photo by Harald Tittel/picture alliance via Getty Images)
This statement was made by the spokesperson of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yuriy Ignat, during a telethon.
“An aircraft is also part of air defense. Somewhere, ground-based air defense will cover strategic directions, important objects, and cities. And then mobile groups and F-16 fighters can operate further”, he explained.
According to him, the aircraft will protect the airspace from missiles such as the Kh-101, “Kalibr,” and kamikaze drones since they cannot shoot down ballistic missiles.
“It will also gain air superiority because currently Russian aviation surpasses us in terms of quantity and technology”, Ignat said.
He added that air superiority in occupied territories will assist ground forces in both defense and offense.
As it became known, the delivery of F-16 fighters to Ukraine may take several months at best. This was stated by the Minister of the United States Air Force, Frank Kendall.
He noted that these are still relatively short terms since it usually takes over 2 years to train a new American pilot to operate such an aircraft.
Photo: open sources
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