One thing that will come into play is far greater target acquisition range and thus operational safety. Their current planes need to get far closer to the enemy to identify and engage their targets than an F16 will have to. This of course increases their survivability as well as their utility in various roles.

[–] mihies@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But still, Russian planes have longer radar and missile reach, at least some of them. That might still be a problem.

[–] AlteredStateBlob@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

No single weapon system or platform will drastically change this war. While the F-16 is a huge upgrade over what they have, it's no silver bullet. Just as with the Challengers and Leopards, they wil lose some F-16 once they go into service.

The main goal is to reduce those losses and every single crew member saved is a tiny victory in this horrible war. Survivability going up is a worthwhile upgrade for sure.