Ukrainian Air Force
Discussion
aeropilot said:
Have seen posts from Twitter saying that Natasha Perakov, 29 years old, who was the first female Ukrainian fighter pilot, died in combat with Russian forces.
https://showbizcorner.com/natasha-perakov-pilot-uk...Dr Jekyll said:
Boom78 said:
That’s sad news 
I just don’t get why no one is sending planes to the Ukrainians, they really need them just as much as ground based weapons. The whole ‘never again’ thing is just worthless. Grow a spine
They may be running out of pilots as well as aircraft.I just don’t get why no one is sending planes to the Ukrainians, they really need them just as much as ground based weapons. The whole ‘never again’ thing is just worthless. Grow a spine
FourWheelDrift said:
aeropilot said:
Have seen posts from Twitter saying that Natasha Perakov, 29 years old, who was the first female Ukrainian fighter pilot, died in combat with Russian forces.
https://showbizcorner.com/natasha-perakov-pilot-uk...Boom78 said:
That’s sad news
I just don’t get why no one is sending planes to the Ukrainians, they really need them just as much as ground based weapons. The whole ‘never again’ thing is just worthless. Grow a spine
There's two main issues so far with "sending planes to the Ukrainians" - I just don’t get why no one is sending planes to the Ukrainians, they really need them just as much as ground based weapons. The whole ‘never again’ thing is just worthless. Grow a spine
1. They have no time to learn how to fly & fix new planes so any planes must be the same type that they already fly. At the moment the only European countries with those are Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria which, if they transferred their own aircraft to the Ukraine, would then be left with a big hole in their own Air Forces which they might potentially need against a belligerent Russia.
2. The planes alone are almost worthless without the pilots, groundcrew, spare parts, weapons, fuel and large support chain which are required to actually use them and I think that is a bigger problem to solve for Ukraine even if they did suddenly receive additional aircraft.
So while it initially may sound like a great moment of "Lets all band together to help out the Ukraine" to the general public, it was always been extremely unlikely to occur, as mentioned by many of those with any experience of military aviation.
IanH755 said:
1. They have no time to learn how to fly & fix new planes so any planes must be the same type that they already fly. At the moment the only European countries with those are Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria which, if they transferred their own aircraft to the Ukraine, would then be left with a big hole in their own Air Forces which they might potentially need against a belligerent Russia.
So far, only the Slovak's & Poles have done a deal to replace their MiG-29's, Slovakia with new build F-16, and Poland with new build F-35A, Slovakia's first F-16's are not due to be delivered for another 11-12 months, so, understandable why they don't won't to let go of their MiG's in the current situation, and likewise, the first Polish F-35A isn't due for delivery until 2024, so again, no chance of them letting their MiG's go either.
The Bulgarian's haven't even signed for any replacement of theirs, and as of last year were being forced to look to keeping their Fulcrum's in service for another 5+ years at least, so again, no surprise it was a no from them.
aeropilot said:
IanH755 said:
1. They have no time to learn how to fly & fix new planes so any planes must be the same type that they already fly. At the moment the only European countries with those are Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria which, if they transferred their own aircraft to the Ukraine, would then be left with a big hole in their own Air Forces which they might potentially need against a belligerent Russia.
So far, only the Slovak's & Poles have done a deal to replace their MiG-29's, Slovakia with new build F-16, and Poland with new build F-35A, Slovakia's first F-16's are not due to be delivered for another 11-12 months, so, understandable why they don't won't to let go of their MiG's in the current situation, and likewise, the first Polish F-35A isn't due for delivery until 2024, so again, no chance of them letting their MiG's go either.
The Bulgarian's haven't even signed for any replacement of theirs, and as of last year were being forced to look to keeping their Fulcrum's in service for another 5+ years at least, so again, no surprise it was a no from them.
Given that UK, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Spain & Greece all deploy the Meteor AAM I would suggest that given Russian air powers performance against Ukraine they would basically be signing their own death warrants to take on an air force equipped with that weapon. It's range also means that you can dominate an area while standing off beyond the range of an S400 (which is much shorter against a very maneuverable fighter, controlled by AWACs and deploying towed decoys.
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