Some of the F-16 fighter jets transferred by Western partners will be kept at foreign air bases so that they do not become targets for russian attacks.
Serhii Holubtsov, Chief of Aviation of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stated this in an interview with Radio Svoboda.
"This will be our reserve in case of need for replacement of faulty aircraft, during routine work. That is, so that we can always have a certain number of aircraft in the operational inventory, which will correspond to the number of pilots we will have. There will be more pilots — there will be more planes in Ukraine," he said.
The number of planes that will be the first to arrive in Ukraine is already known. The airfields where they will be based are also known. These bases are attacked almost every night by russian drones, sometimes missiles fly there. These objects can be protected only if the right number of missiles is available.
Western planes are a desirable target for the russians. Therefore, in order to hit the F-16 at the airfield, they will not spare Kinzhals and Iskanders.
Holubtsov believes that minimum protection requires at least two Patriot batteries, two NASAMS-type batteries, to work on aerodynamic targets, on drones, and also cover the Patriot itself from them. The installations themselves should cover anti-aircraft guns of the Gepard type.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the first group of Ukrainian pilots has already completed training on F-16 aircraft in the United States of America. They studied at a military base in Arizona.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that F-16 multipurpose fighters will arrive in Ukraine within a month.
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