Providing aircraft with modern equipment and good missiles can reduce the impact of Russian guided aerial bombs. And it will help to shoot down Russian missiles over the Ukrainian sky.
This was stated in an interview with LB.ua by Roman Kostenko, MP from the Voice faction, Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defence and Intelligence.
"The provision of F-16s to Ukraine should be considered as an opportunity to turn the situation in our favour, so that we can regain our territories or gain some initiative. It will also depend on the number of these F-16s. And especially on the weapons they will carry, their equipment," the MP said.
According to him, if the equipment of these aircraft is not the one we want, then their provision to Ukraine will not affect anything.
"The only thing that will be possible is to block some routes. If good aircraft with up-to-date equipment and good missiles are provided, it will be possible to reduce the influence of Russian anti-aircraft gunships on some of our advanced positions. This is the first thing. Secondly, it may help us shoot down Russian missiles over the Ukrainian sky," the military predicts.
At the same time, the minimum number of F-16s we were promised will not change the situation.
"If there are 260 aircraft, which is needed, and I doubt it very much, then we can talk about some kind of approximate parity in the air. Not even a breakthrough. Because Russia has more than a thousand aircraft. Hundreds of them are modern, so we are not talking about full parity at all," the MP stressed.
In his opinion, the promised number of F-16s will only give a certain advantage.
"Therefore, in principle, even providing us with a couple of dozen F-16s will not change the situation significantly. It will help to deter the enemy and inflict greater losses on it, to bring down its defence potential and exhaust it," Kostenko said.