The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine needs significantly more F-16 fighters to strengthen and expand the air defense system.
This follows from a statement by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The report recalls that on August 4, official Kyiv announced the receipt of the first batch of F-16 fighters.
However, as noted in the report, this number is insufficient to significantly strengthen the country's defense against air attacks or effectively participate in combat missions.
Analysts believe that Ukraine needs a significantly larger number of F-16s to integrate the aircraft and expand its air defense system.
"Also, in order to make F-16s safer to use and eliminate the risk of them being damaged by the enemy, the Air Force should also regularly destroy air defense systems in the Russian rear and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine with the help of long-range weapons provided by the West," the ISW report says.
As the 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, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the Netherlands and Denmark had begun transferring F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
On July 31, Bloomberg reported that the first batch of F-16 fighter jets had arrived in Ukraine.
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