Denmark’s government has said that Copenhagen has started a training program for Ukrainian pilots on US-made F-16s, The Associated Press reported on Monday.
Troels Lund Poulsen, Denmark’s acting defense minister, said his country has “taken the step of starting a training and further education effort for the Ukrainian pilots.”
Lund Poulsen also announced that Denmark was pushing up its plans to retire its F-16s by two years. Denmark will now phase out its F-16s and replace them with F-35s by 2025 instead of 2027, potentially freeing them up for Ukraine. According to AP, Denmark ordered 27 F-35s to replace its fleet of 30 F-16s.
Denmark is expected to provide Ukraine with F-16s but hasn’t made a final decision. “We will also consider whether we should make a concrete donation to Ukraine of the Danish F-16 fighters, and how many there should be,” Lund Poulsen said.
He added that Ukrainian pilots will need to train on F-16s for six to eight months before the American jets can be provided to Kyiv. “This does not mean that you cannot make a decision beforehand. But (the F-16 planes) will be in Denmark until 2024,” he said.
Belgium and the Netherlands are also expected to provide Ukraine with F-16s and assist with training, but they also have not made a final decision. President Biden has signed off on the delivery of the jets to Ukraine from European countries, and the US has not ruled out sending its own F-16s.
Russian officials have warned strongly against the US and its allies providing Ukraine with Western-made aircraft, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently noting that F-16s are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. But the Biden administration has brushed off the warnings as it’s no longer as concerned about escalation as it was earlier in the conflict.
Just going through the motions until the other shoe drops. The USA and its vassal states in Europe are firmly in the sights of the evil cabal that controls everything. Meanwhile the rest of the world has had quite enough of our continual expansion and avarice without limit. Hopefully, the Belt and Road Initiative and the BRICS nations will dump the petrodollar and force US troops to go home where they belong. They will be needed to quell the food riots and open insurrection. The end of an empire is never a pretty sight.
“Only the dead have seen the end of war”
Having flown fighter jets in the American military for most of my 20 year career; I can say from experience that the F-16 is NOT a game changer.
The F-16s will burn the same as the MiG-29s or Leopard tanks which are now depleted. The F-16 is a 47 year old design and even the newest airframes provided to Ukraine will not matter. Maintenance man hours per flight hour will still be very high and parts will be an issue.
Russian integrated SAM defenses will eat up the F-16s just like they did with the MiG-29s and Su-27s. Add to this, the air to air R37M will decimate anything Ukraine flies.
This past week a Ukrainian trained for two years in America died on his first mission in a MiG-29. If he had an F-16 the result would have been the same.
Ukraine has become the dumping ground for obsolete and broken military hardware. Retired generals and admirals are forming small companies to get on the band wagon of selling old equipment to Ukraine like the F-18.
There is no winning for Ukraine only more and more dead bodies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgHud7Z5vaE&t=1517s
https://eurasiantimes.com/russian-su-35-uses-never-used-before-r37-m-air-to-air-missile/
The late General Charles “Chuck” Yeager said that an experienced, good pilot will take out a less experienced pilot. In mock air battles, he proved that over and over, even switching aircraft (Mig-15, F-86 Sabre) in a mock air battle after he flew the aircraft. One snotty nosed pilot told him the F-86 was more superior, etc. Yeager flew the Mig, got on his tail. They switched planes. Yeager in the F-86. Same. Experience and skill is the difference. Not the aircraft.
Exceptional, good, or experienced pilots matters not to Surface to Air Missiles SAM or or advanced Beyond Visual Range BVR air to air missiles like the R37M.
If a pilot can SEE an incoming missiles he must pull as many Gs as his aircraft can to try and defeat the missile. For every G the pilot pulls the missile must pull 3 gs. This technique is not viable if the warhead is big enough to take out a larger area near the aircraft.
From my sources on the Russian side you do not want to fly into the SAM belts at any altitude great than 100 feet. It is better to leave it to drones to take out SAM transporters and SAM sites before any operations by manned jets. Only after the SAM threat is eliminated should you send maned aircraft into the battle zone at higher altitudes.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230627/un-records-increase-in-law-violations-by-ukrainian-security-forces-1111490831.html
UN Documents Rampant Torture of Civilians by Ukrainian Security Forces
And this is why we don’t get our news from Russian state media, boys and girls.
That article is about a 47-page report but only cherry picks the parts about Ukraine. (And torture, to be clear, is absolutely not acceptable and should be absolutely be condemned.)
But it omits the following parts:
“From February 2022 to 31 January 2023, OHCHR documented 133 cases of CRSV (85 men, 45 women, 3 girls), the majority of which took place in territory occupied by the Russian Federation. 109 cases are attributable to Russian armed forces or Russian law enforcement and penitentiary staff.” [CRSV = conflict-related sexual violence]
“Since October 2022, Russian strikes targeting critical energy infrastructure have killed at least 116 civilians and injured at least 379.”
“Members of the Russian armed forces and the Security Service of Russia (FSB) reportedly tortured or otherwise ill-treated victims to force them to confess to providing assistance to Ukrainian armed forces, to compel them to cooperate with the occupying authorities or to intimidate those with pro-Ukrainian views. Victims stated that prison guards punched them; beat them with batons and rifle butts; slashed them with knives; threatened to shoot their hands and legs, mutilate or execute them; deprived them of sleep; exposed them to freezing temperatures, sometimes after pouring water on them; electrocuted them; and subjected them to mock executions or sexual violence, including threats of rape and deliberate infliction of force or electrocution on sexual organs.”
I urge you to actually read it yourself instead of just believing what Russia tells you about it.
If you prefer to believe this report’s narrative, that’s a personal choice.
No, I didn’t read it. I’m taking your word as to its bias.
You’re well aware that Ukraine is losing the war. Estimates vary from 15:1–20:1 dead VSU soldiers to Russian dead. I’ve seen their death count placed around 400,000.
That was published about two months ago.
I read a report today that Ukrainians are leaving their dead in trenches and covered in plastic film. The wounded are being carried out, presumably on makeshift stretchers.
There are indignities, and then we examine Kyiv’s inhumanity to its troops.
You realize that young Ukrainian men are being involuntarily pulled off the streets under forced conscription.
Could you develop some perspective and try to avoid Washington’s propaganda?
Let’s review:
1. You posted an article from Russian state media about a UN report .
2. You failed to read the report, which the article very selectively quoted (and only when it reflected poorly on Ukraine).
3. I read the report and provided a few of the many portions that reflected poorly on Russia
4. You suggest I “try to avoid Washington’s propaganda.”
I think I hear Alanis Morissette singing “Ironic” somewhere in the distance … because I’m not the one who needs to avoid propaganda in this scenario.
You didn’t address what I wrote.
Thanks for sharing, troll!