Jet with an Achilles heel The shortcoming of the F-16 that is causing Kiev's euphoria to evaporate
The F-16 has supposedly arrived in Ukraine. But while the euphoria is great, the number of units delivered is small. And the jets have a shortcoming that limits their use: kerosene consumption.
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- Western media report that the first promised F-16 jets have arrived in Ukraine.
- The great euphoria is offset by the small number of aircraft.
- Operationally, their use is severely limited by their kerosene consumption.
- The F-16 jets are therefore not well suited to combat Russian glide bomb attacks.
- For the time being, the jets will probably be used primarily for one task.
Everyone is talking about the F-16. The Kremlin is doing it: it is increasingly attacking Ukrainian airports in the hope of destroying the US jet as soon as it arrives.
Russian military bloggers are doing it: they want to know that four planes took off from Romania and then flew over Odessa. However, these were apparently only Romanian air force jets that never flew into Ukraine.
But the opposite side is also talking about the issue: First, "Bloomberg" claims to have learned from informed sources that the US planes have now arrived. The AP news agency also writes that it has received confirmation of this from Ukrainian and American politicians.
Kiev, on the other hand, has remained silent on the matter: "Ukraine will not officially confirm the arrival of the F-16s," Mychajlo Podoljak, an advisor to Volodymyr Selenskyj, is quoted as saying. The reason: "The fog of war is very useful." Moscow is to be kept in the dark about the new weapon.
The euphoria surrounding the F-16 is huge: "Another impossible thing that has turned out to be completely possible," exults Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielus Landsbergis. Yet the number of aircraft delivered is embarrassingly small: it is still in the single-digit range.
A drop in the ocean
Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium have promised a total of 79 jets, but Kiev would actually need 130 aircraft to survive, say Ukrainian military officials. And the air force doesn't just have too few F-16s: they are severely limited operationally because Ukraine has no tanker aircraft.
The F-16 consumes significantly more kerosene at low altitude than at high altitude, where the air is thinner. Given the size of the country, the jets can hardly do anything if they do not climb. The problem is that the higher up they are, the more likely the Russian air defense system is to detect the pilots.
This has consequences - for example when it comes to intercepting Russian Su-35s, which make life difficult for Ukrainian ground troops with their glide bombs. The latter also fly high to intercept their targets, as this allows them to release their glide bombs early and leave the battlefield.
Fighting glide bombs? It's complicated
Royal Navy veteran Jon Champs describes what a Ukrainian F-16 has to do to fly such a mission. When it takes off from an airfield in the west and climbs to 35,000 feet, i.e. a good 10,000 meters, it has already flown over half of Ukraine. It has to intercept the Su-34, which drops its bomb 70 kilometers from the front.
If the F-16 radar can detect the enemy, the Ukrainian jet is only 10 to 30 kilometers away from the front. At this height and distance, Russian surface-to-air missiles such as the S-400 can detect and engage the jet. So things have to move quickly.
Speaking of which: the F-16 ideally fires its AMRAAM air-to-air missiles at a speed of Mach 1.3, writes Champs: its engine ignites and burns for seven seconds before the projectile reaches the Su-34 at Mach 4, giving it a 50:50 chance of survival.
Kerosene consumption as Achilles heel
The F-16 must then turn away immediately and disappear quickly: The kerosene reserve is already running low, the British expert knows. The F-16 probably has to refuel at a makeshift point before it can return to base. Even then, the jets are vulnerable.
In other words, the F-16 will probably not be able to solve the problem with the glide bombs for the time being, the British expert estimates. The monitoring by Russian drones, which report every landing site, is problematic. The jet will primarily be able to help in the hunt for cruise missiles, but will not change the war for the time being.
At the same time, Champs writes: "The F-16 is confronted with an extremely complicated environment and is by no means the best aircraft to deal with it. But bearing this in mind, we should never underestimate the enthusiasm and inventiveness of the Ukrainians. I am sure they will surprise us."