“F-16 aircraft are generally of high quality, but they are very capricious… the runway must be perfectly clean. If you look at the F-16, it has an air intake under the belly… so it must be. clean,” RIA Novosti reports on the expert’s words.
Starikov explained that Soviet aircraft, unlike American fighters, are unpretentious due to the fact that the air intake is installed on top.
The former SBU employee added that air bases in Ukraine are being destroyed by missile attacks and that it is very difficult to rebuild them. Western fighters will not find it easy to take off due to severely damaged infrastructure, Starikov emphasized.
It was previously reported that Ukraine could receive more than 60 American-made F-16 fighters this summer. According to media reports, these planes will be sent to kyiv from Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium.
The day before, Vladimir Zelensky made a statement that the United States would transfer fighter squadrons to Ukraine, which would include, among others, F-16s.
Meanwhile, the Ural company has already announced a bonus of 15 million rubles for the first downed F-16.
