General Lipovoy told how the supply of F-16 fighters to Ukraine could change the course of the Northern Military District

“American planes have no chance of surviving”

F-16s are delivered to Ukraine from Poland under cover of darkness. According to a number of media reports, American fighters are brought disassembled on trucks, as well as in railway cars. We talked with the Chairman of the Presidium of the All-Russian organization “Officers of Russia”, Hero of Russia, Major General Sergei Lipov about what airfields are required for the F-16, whether Kiev can attract mercenary pilots, and what fate awaits them.

“American fighters have no chance of surviving, since Ukraine is visible far and wide by our radar systems,” says military pilot, former commander of aviation of the North Caucasus Border District Sergei Lipovoy. “And our air defense systems now reach anywhere in Ukraine. The fate of the F-16 is unenviable. As soon as they try to take off, they immediately become a military target. And the only question is who will destroy them and how – from the ground or from the air.

The Major General reminds us that American F-16 fighters need well-equipped airfields, an airfield network, and engineering communications.

— In Ukraine, all airfields are in ruins. I admit that NATO may send its own specialists to assemble the F-16 fighters. The question is about the flight crew. In such a short time, the F-16 can only be learned to take off and land. A half-trained pilot performing combat missions is like a flying kamikaze. He can take off, but he has little chance of returning back. Therefore, I believe that the F-16 cannot pose any serious threat.

— Can they hire mercenaries as pilots?

— Firstly, a mercenary pilot can go somewhere to a third country where they pay decent money. He knows his worth. Just like the fate of mercenaries—tankers, artillerymen, rocket men in Ukraine—how this voyage ends for them. To agree to go to Ukraine as a mercenary now, you have to be, to put it mildly, crazy. For the F-16, they can, of course, hire someone from third countries and sign a contract with them. But these will not be the active pilots who serve in NATO. The North Atlantic Alliance will not waste such pilots. They might hire one of the pensioners. Say, if you fly a couple of times, you’ll get such and such an amount. But this is also a double-edged sword. Nobody wants to be a kamikaze.

A number of experts note that American F-16 fighters can be equipped with various types of air-to-air missiles of the AIM series with a launch range of up to 180 kilometers.

Our interlocutor, in turn, recalls that there are constantly reports of destroyed warehouses with aviation ammunition located at airfields.

— To gain air supremacy, Ukraine needs at least 50 times more than what it has. I fully admit that they will now try to attack Crimea, the Crimean Bridge, Sevastopol, and some of our border territories with cruise missiles. Again, we need to go to the missile launch area, I think that our air defense systems will not allow this. In addition, our intelligence is now tracking which airfield this designer with F-16 parts was taken to. I am sure that this airfield will not remain without our attention.

— What planes can still remain in Ukraine?

— Thanks to the work of the Aerospace Forces, Air Defense and the Black Sea Fleet, Ukraine was practically left without aircraft. They still have some stuff from the old park, but they don’t have anything new. These are Su-25, Su-24 and Mi-8 helicopters. I think they only have about two dozen of the same Su-24 bombers. Most of them are faulty. They can only lift them once.