Experts tell why Ukrainian F-16s have golden dome
The first official video of F-16s in Ukrainian skies has some important details about their weapons and capabilities. It is about a specific pylon with lenses and a strange color of the dome (light) of one of the planes, Defense Express writes.
"The unusual golden color of the cabin light can attract attention. The fact is that gold is really used in its coating, and this allows to reduce the radar visibility of the F-16," Defense Express journalists noted.
"The main surprise can be considered the ECIPS/CJS container from the Danish Terma and the Italian Leonardo, which combines a powerful digital EW station, which allows to jam the radar of aircraft and anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as a station for fixing the threat of a missile attack due to including the detection of the approaching missiles themselves," the publication writes.
It is emphasized that the mount for weapons is not lost, that is, it is possible to hang weapons under ECIPS/CJS. The container itself is a new development and as of 2021 has undergone testing.
Such pylons were installed on Danish aircraft and, according to unconfirmed information, on Belgian, Dutch and Norwegian F-16s. That is, all fighter jets that Ukraine can count on could receive such containers.
It can also be seen in the video that the fighters are armed with two types of air-to-air missiles - the AIM-9 for destroying targets in the short range and the AIM-120, which is responsible for medium and longer ranges.
Under the wings are two standard additional 370-gallon (1,564-liter) fuel tanks.
At the same time, two F-16s, which were parked during the awards ceremony, had another type of outboard tank under the central pylon: 300 gallons (1,135 liters).
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on August 4, The Economist reported that the first ten F-16 fighter jets had arrived in Ukraine on July 31.
On July 10, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the Netherlands and Denmark had begun transferring F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
On July 31, the Bloomberg agency reported that the first batch of F-16 fighter jets had arrived in Ukraine.