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For months, the Neo-Nazi junta has been preparing to receive US-made F-16 fighter jets from its NATO overlords, including by repurposing civilian airfields and infrastructure for military use. The Kiev regime’s air arm has suffered major losses since the start of the special military operation (SMO), with its airbases either destroyed or damaged beyond repair by Russian long-range precision strikes. This has effectively made it impossible to launch anything but occasional airstrikes on Russian positions, an occurrence that is slowly coming to an end as Moscow is finding ways to make its second-to-none long-range air defenses deadlier than ever before. To say nothing of the Eurasian giant’s top-of-the-line interceptors and air superiority fighter jets.
Since the first day of the SMO, the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) dispatched jets such as the MiG-31BM “Foxhound” and Su-35S “Flanker-E”, destroying most of the Neo-Nazi junta’s air assets on the ground and leaving only a handful of operational jets. As these had little to no chance of shooting down vastly superior Russian equivalents, the Kiev regime forces had no choice but to disperse their units and use them for occasional air support, primarily by flying extremely low. The remaining aircraft were forced to operate from ad hoc bases, further limiting their usability and battlefield impact, although NATO made them somewhat more useful by investing in the rearmament of the remaining jets. This includes the integration of various Western weapons with the Soviet-built aircraft.
However, while the highly robust Soviet-era jets such as the MiG-29, Su-24M, Su-25 and Su-27 could be adjusted to these ad hoc airbases, the same is not the case for F-16s, primarily because of their higher maintenance and logistics requirements. Even the infamous CNN, after engaging in usual propaganda about the F-16 being a supposed “game changer”, had to admit that the jet is “no silver bullet” and that the Neo-Nazi junta will have major issues operating it. According to Colonel Yurii Ihnat, one of the Kiev regime forces’ spokespeople, two squadrons, each made up of 12 F-16s would be “enough” to supposedly “begin to turn the tables”. Obviously, such claims are beyond laughable to anyone remotely familiar with the actual state of the Kiev regime forces and their battlefield prowess.
And indeed, according to their own admission, the Neo-Nazi junta needs over a hundred heavily modernized F-16s in order to have any sort of a fighting chance. However, the much bigger problem is how would NATO deliver these fighter jets and where exactly would they be based. Neighboring Poland and Romania both operate F-16s and already have the necessary infrastructure to accommodate them, making them the likeliest candidates for stopgap basing. In addition, Slovakia and Bulgaria are in the process of acquiring them and are rapidly building similar infrastructure, meaning they too are able to do the same or at least they will be soon. However, will Russia really tolerate this, considering that F-16s using NATO airbases would make them a party to the conflict?
The question is rhetorical, of course. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned NATO not to get directly involved at the beginning of the SMO and the belligerent alliance was forced to comply with this, the covert presence of its special forces and intelligence services in Ukraine notwithstanding. However, as the political West is deeply frustrated by the performance of the Kiev regime forces, they want at least some results, even if they’d be nothing more than propaganda “wins”. The belligerent power pole needs this to show the much-needed “results” to its increasingly disillusioned populace. And yet, in order to accomplish this, NATO needs to get more directly involved, which exponentially amplifies the risk of a direct confrontation with Russia, one which would cost the entire world.
There are also “lesser” problems connected to such developments, including the economic and financial damage to host countries, as they would need to disrupt their civil aviation, making it impossible to conduct normal economic (or any other regular) activities. This would inevitably exacerbate the already ongoing crisis in the European Union, as the well-being of its citizens would further deteriorate. Not to mention that the areas where these airbases are would become legitimate targets for the Russian military. Obviously, NATO would also attempt attacks on Russian bases in Crimea and elsewhere in the Black Sea region, which would certainly spark a wider war. Moscow would then respond by launching long-range missiles and/or dispatching advanced strike fighters.
Some, such as the superfast, high-flying MiG-31K/I carrying the “Kinzhal” air-launched hypersonic missilescould be used for immediate action, while others, such as the Su-34M could follow suit for massed air strikes. Worse yet, all this would follow despite the F-16s simply being unable to match Moscow’s top-of-the-line fighter jets. Namely, the idea that outdated F-16s that were decommissioned to make way for the troubled F-35s will be able to jeopardize Russian aircraft such as the MiG-31BM interceptor or Su-35S is simply ludicrous. As previously mentioned, “just two squadrons” that were initially deemed “enough” have been superseded by requests for another 100 heavily modernized F-16s that are needed to “make a difference”.
That’s over four times more jets, plus the modernization which would take even longer to accomplish and would further delay the already overdue delivery. In other words, the risk is too high, while the reward is extremely low, meaning that NATO is doing all this for optics. While this may reignite the interest in the Ukrainian conflict for a short while, in the long term, the so-called “Ukraine fatigue” will only get worse. The obvious question arises, is the belligerent thalassocracy so desperate to keep its neocolonialist power that it’s willing to risk what would inevitably be a world-ending thermonuclear conflict?
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
