Ukraine

8208 readers

1177 users here now

News and discussion related to Ukraine

*Sympathy for enemy combatants is prohibited.

*No content depicting extreme violence or gore.

*Posts containing combat footage should include [Combat] in title

*Combat videos containing any footage of a visible human must be flagged NSFW

Donate to support Ukraine's Defense

Donate to support Humanitarian Aid

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

234

The Netherlands and Denmark will give F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, the Dutch prime minister says (apnews.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

51 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One thing I've missed in the discussion of sending F-16s is the role they'll play.

From what I've seen, Russia still has significant air defense capabilities, and they launch air fired weapons from deep in their own territory. So, if the F-16s can't get too far upfield, due to defenses, and there isn't much they can do in air-to-air combat, what advantage do they have over longer range artillery?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

“Western fighters with stand-off weapons would offer Ukraine an improved capability to destroy fixed Russian targets near the frontlines from a safer distance,” he tweeted, but “they would be adding to existing strike options like Himars [rocket artillery] and drawing from limited stockpiles”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/01/how-would-f-16-fighter-jets-aid-ukraine-against-russia

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Thanks.That's kinda what I thought, but assumed I was missing something with the amount of attention the transfer of this one weapon platform has received. I guess it's also symbolic of the level of commitment by NATO, since it's not just a few planes, but also ammo plus training plus support framework.

I'm glad we're not just throwing ammo at the situation and wishing Ukraine the best of luck, though I do wish we were doing more.