Russia

[BigRedBuster]

Piece of s#!t. 
 

 

[Decked]

Sweden will join NATO after all. 

[knapplc]

Ukraine is getting F16s after all.

 

It's pretty crazy that a 44-year-old aircraft is going to be so pivotal to this war. The F16 has been heavily modified over the years, but the basic airframe has remained intact. 

 

Lockheed Martin stopped production of the F16 in 2017, but recently an Israeli company has restarted production due to high demand. 

 

 

[commando]

fwiw....i am not sure how the f-16 improves ukraines air defense.     unless the old soviet jets they have gotten from everywhere are running out.  or if  having more numbers of fighters available is going to be the difference.

[knapplc]

11 minutes ago, commando said:

fwiw....i am not sure how the f-16 improves ukraines air defense.     unless the old soviet jets they have gotten from everywhere are running out.  or if  having more numbers of fighters available is going to be the difference.

 

The F16 is a unique plane. It's an air-superiority platform that can tangle with the best of Russia's fighters. It's also an effective ground-support platform that can aid Ukraine's troops in their counteroffensive. I'm sure with your military background you know this, just putting it out there for the folks who may not know.

 

The only issue I have is that we should have transferred these planes and trained their pilots many months ago. 

[BigRedBuster]

35 minutes ago, knapplc said:

Ukraine is getting F16s after all.

 

It's pretty crazy that a 44-year-old aircraft is going to be so pivotal to this war. The F16 has been heavily modified over the years, but the basic airframe has remained intact. 

 

Lockheed Martin stopped production of the F16 in 2017, but recently an Israeli company has restarted production due to high demand. 

 

 

 

It really is an amazing plane to stand the test of time.

[commando]

22 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

The F16 is a unique plane. It's an air-superiority platform that can tangle with the best of Russia's fighters. It's also an effective ground-support platform that can aid Ukraine's troops in their counteroffensive. I'm sure with your military background you know this, just putting it out there for the folks who may not know.

 

The only issue I have is that we should have transferred these planes and trained their pilots many months ago. 

the f-16 needs twice as much runway to take off compared to the mig-29    now i don't know what ukraines airfields are like....but i have seen video of them using stretches of highway to launch and land their migs so that might be a concern.    

[Decked]

Wonder if we they will get enough to make a significant difference. Their hopes of taking back all of their land are at this point a pipe dream.  They have a hodgepodge of western tech (extremely hard to manage, integrate, & keep moving) and not enough to boot. We will see I guess. 

[TGHusker]

1 hour ago, BigRedBuster said:

 

It really is an amazing plane to stand the test of time.

That and the B-52s which my uncle flew in during Vietnam.   Maybe a few B-52s to soften up Russian defenses a bit would do the trick.  

[commando]

the air defenses on both sides are incredible.  that is why neither side flies over enemy territory.     if anything ukraine could use something like the wild weasels we flew during desert storm.  but not sure if those would work without the entire air systems with AWACS, Fighters, wild weasels, A-10's, etc...

[Moiraine]

1 hour ago, Decked said:

Wonder if we they will get enough to make a significant difference. Their hopes of taking back all of their land are at this point a pipe dream.  They have a hodgepodge of western tech (extremely hard to manage, integrate, & keep moving) and not enough to boot. We will see I guess. 

 

 

I think they will have all of it back within the next 5 years, but part of that will come after the Russians assassinate Putin. As far as militarily, things are going slowly, but they've gained more ground in 3 weeks than Russia did in the past 9 months. Although part of that is due to Russia's strange fixation on one city.

[RedDenver]

2 hours ago, commando said:

the f-16 needs twice as much runway to take off compared to the mig-29    now i don't know what ukraines airfields are like....but i have seen video of them using stretches of highway to launch and land their migs so that might be a concern.    

Takeoff length depends on load out, so the F-16 can operate on shorter runways but will have less range and/or armament.

[Decked]

1 hour ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

I think they will have all of it back within the next 5 years, but part of that will come after the Russians assassinate Putin. As far as militarily, things are going slowly, but they've gained more ground in 3 weeks than Russia did in the past 9 months. Although part of that is due to Russia's strange fixation on one city.

I just have a hard time buying that the American Public will be behind this for 5 years 

[ZRod]

1 hour ago, Decked said:

I just have a hard time buying that the American Public will be behind this for 5 years 

They're a fickle bunch.

[ZRod]

5 hours ago, knapplc said:

 

The F16 is a unique plane. It's an air-superiority platform that can tangle with the best of Russia's fighters. It's also an effective ground-support platform that can aid Ukraine's troops in their counteroffensive. I'm sure with your military background you know this, just putting it out there for the folks who may not know.

 

The only issue I have is that we should have transferred these planes and trained their pilots many months ago. 

It's also relatively cheap to buy and cheap to operate since you're only maintaining a single engine.