Quote:
Originally Posted by Andreas86
Just read that Bulgaria, Poland and Slovakia will hand over 70 MiG-29 and Su-25 jets to Ukraine. Lovely!
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I don't doubt this claim as I've seen it previously myself, but I do think there are certain practicalities to consider that could make it unfeasible.
1. These aircraft are one of the most important military defence assets of those aforementioned countries. Would they really just give these away when potentially they may soon be required for the defence of their own nations in the coming future? I wouldn't be happy if my government gave away our primary defences to another country.
2. Propaganda from both sides makes it difficult to interpret the strategic situation regarding Ukrainian airspace. It is known however that the military airports were primary targets of the opening strikes. The Russians claim to have destroyed 34 aircraft on the ground. Could be a lie but it's also quite believable. According to Wikipedia, if you can believe that, the main combat aircraft inventory of the Ukrainian Air Force prior to the attacks looked like this:
MiG-29: 37 (8 are used for conversion training)
Sukhoi Su-24: 12
Sukhoi Su-25: 17
Sukhoi Su-27: 32 (6 are used for conversion training)
Of the fighter types, even not taking losses into consideration, it's difficult to comprehend the Russians not possessing air superiority at this time - or the ability to acquire it in the future. If so, then ferrying them into Ukraine and safeguarding them on the ground could prove extremely difficult. Either that, or they would conduct operations from bases within other countries, which of course brings about the threat of further expansion of the conflict.
3. It's possible that these new aircraft may have differences in the avionics and weapon systems than what the Ukrainian pilots are used to. Competency in these systems makes up for a significant proportion of a modern fighter pilot's workload. This may require extensive operational conversion training.
These may turn out to be all non-issues, but to me it sounds like the sort of thing politicians would dream up in the heat of the moment without conducting proper research. Looks great on paper, reality could be a different story.