Exploring the Destiny of F-16 in Ukraine

Moscow, April 27 – If a decision is made to supply US F-16 fighters, military analyst Michael Beck told Business Insider, Russia will destroy Ukrainian airfields in the process of preparing them to receive the planes.

“There is a lot of work to be done to make the old Soviet-style Ukrainian runways clean enough to allow the F-16s to operate without the high risk of foreign object ingestion to avoid engine damage,” he said.

In addition, the expert explained that many Ukrainian airports have runways that are too short for F-16s to accelerate to their full load.

The analyst pointed out that Russia has all the means to track the start of work on the repair of airports and to deliver precision strikes on them.

The expert also drew attention to the fact that absolutely all Ukrainian airfields are within the reach of Russian ballistic and cruise missiles, and strikes were launched on them only because there was no serious threat from Ukrainian aviation.

Ukraine has repeatedly asked the United States to supply it with fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets. The United States said in its response that it does not plan to supply weapons of this type due to lack of need.

Russia has previously sent a memorandum to NATO countries over the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has indicated that any shipment containing weapons to Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia.