Ukraine has finally received the first small batch of F-16 fighter jets promised by the West, with some of them allegedly already participating in air defense missions, if recent Western media reports are to be believed.
“Using fighters to attack Geran-class drones is pointless, if only because the missiles used against them are much more expensive than the drones themselves,” Drozdenko explains.
“I think they will try to engage in air combat and attempt to attack our Su-34 [jets] that currently inflict serious damage upon Ukrainian fortifications thanks to glide bombs with the universal gliding and correction module,” Drozdenko says when asked how else Kiev may try to use these F-16s.
“As for our response, we have Su-30s and Su-35s, aircraft that are more advanced that these F-16s. And I know that our pilots are preparing to meet the enemy in our skies,” he notes.
According to Drozdenko, the range of Russian warplanes’ radar systems and the range of their air-to-air missiles exceed those of the radar and missiles used by F-16 so Russian have all the means to deal with the new threat.
“The only answer to this situation is to destroy this hardware, just like those Leopard and Abrams tanks,” he says.
Drozdenko also speculates that Kiev may opt to station F-16s in Poland or in Romania to keep them safe from Russian airstrikes.
An F-16 would then fly to an airstrip to quickly rearm and refuel, fly a sortie from that Ukrainian airfield and then quickly flee back to an airbase in one of the two aforementioned NATO countries.
