Will the F-16 fighter jets fulfill the hopes of the Ukrainians? Experts are divided

Valery Zaluzhny, a former Ukrainian general, said last November that the F-16s would be “less useful” now than they were a year ago because Russia had had time to improve its air defenses.

Reuters examined the technical documents and spoke to eight military experts, including former F-16 instructors and pilots, about the aircraft’s capabilities, limitations and the impact they could have on the war in Ukraine.

• Since Russian aircraft have more powerful radars and more advanced missiles than the Ukrainian Air Force, they have an advantage in long-range aerial combat.
• Russian aircraft can fire long-range air-to-air missiles and attack targets near the front line at a distance that prevents Ukrainian fighter jets from intercepting them.
• Ukraine’s increasingly powerful air defense network, bolstered by Western systems such as IRIS-T, NASAMS and PATRIOT, has reduced the effectiveness of Russian long-range missile strikes.
• The F-16 would provide greater protection as the fighter’s radars and missiles allow them to hunt enemy targets at greater distances.

At the beginning of the war, Ukrainian air defenses shot down many Russian planes during intensive airstrikes inside Ukraine. After only a few months, the Russian Air Force ceased flying in the contested airspace and relied on long-range weapons such as cruise missiles and ballistic missiles for strikes. Ukraine then added additional layers of defense with Western-supplied systems, including Patriot batteries, which proved effective even against air-launched ballistic missiles. Ukraine also uses fighter jets, mainly MiG-29s, to shoot down cruise missiles and drones.

Making airspace too dangerous for enemy flights is an essential part of modern military operations. In the first weeks of the war, Russia carried out intensive air attacks, but suffered significant losses, which forced it to stop risking aircraft on such missions.

Western military officials and experts say the addition of F-16s to Ukraine’s fleet will not dramatically change the course of the war. Pilot and crew training takes time, surface-to-air missiles remain the main threat, and the planes are not designed for Ukraine’s damaged and sometimes improvised runways.

But they are an improvement over Ukraine’s closest equivalent, the Soviet-era MiG-29s, and in the long term will help Kyiv integrate with Western military allies and shed its dependence on aging Russian-made equipment.

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