This summer, after a long wait, Ukraine will finally receive new F-16 fighters, but their number will be smaller than originally planned, Bloomberg reports, citing sources from global military circles.
According to one source, Ukraine will be able to form only one squadron of 15-24 aircraft out of the planned 300. Another source for the news agency said that Kyiv could receive 20 fighters by the end of the year.
As Bloomberg notes, the task of supplying fighter jets is complicated by long delays in the delivery of spare parts, a language barrier between Ukrainian pilots and their foreign instructors, the selection of personnel for fighter maintenance, as well as an insufficient number of runways and their vulnerability to Russian attacks.
The problems are so serious that they have led many to question the advisability of sending planes to Ukraine and to ask themselves whether this is too expensive a show of support.
“People shouldn’t expect miracles” from F-16 fighters against Russia, urges Jim Townsend, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, against this backdrop.
