According to a Ukrainian Air Force spokesman, the arrival of the fighter jets in Ukraine will be officially announced, although no specific date was mentioned. Ilya Yevlas confirmed that the fighters sent by the Western allies will not be deployed by the air force in the first days.
“We are already officially waiting to see when they will arrive, and only after that can we report that the aircraft are in service with the air force, within certain limits,” said Yevlas. Moreover, he added, they do not expect the fighters to be deployed on the first day after their arrival.
“We are currently preparing the infrastructure to receive the aircraft and carry out the necessary maintenance to enable them to perform their tasks effectively,” said the spokesman.
On 18 March, Romania approved the training of 50 Ukrainian pilots in F-16 fighter jets at the training center at the Fetesti airbase. On March 29, the Belgian government offered Ukraine €100 million for the maintenance of F-16 fighters as part of the “air coalition.”
For many months, one of the main demands of the Ukrainians has been for F-16s to offset Russian air superiority. This would be logical if they were to get hundreds of modern aircraft, but there is no sign of that, security policy expert György Nógrádi told Magyar Nemzet earlier.
Moreover, U.S. fighters are much more demanding of runway conditions, and unlike Ukraine’s MiG fleet which are better suited for rough-and-tumble conditions, the F-16s cannot use most Ukrainian runways.
