Ukraine already uses F-16 multipurpose fighters for air defense missions, primarily to destroy cruise missiles and drones. This was officially announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi during a press conference on August 27.
Edition DEFENSE EXPRESS understood the nuances of F-16 use and their advantages over Russian aircraft. And it should be noted right away that even at the level of October 2023, this is the scenario for the use of the F-16 that was predicted. Because it allows you to safely gain initial experience in the real operation of fighters. Moreover, this American fighter has a number of advantages over Soviet aircraft in the fight against cruise missiles. And also, surprisingly, more effective than anti-aircraft missile systems.
The fact is that the cruise missile is a rather specific target, it is small-sized and low-altitude. The latter means that even the most sophisticated radar will not see a cruise missile flying at an altitude of 50 meters at a range of more than about 42 km, because the missile will be below the horizon for it.
That is, the zone of responsibility of any air defense system in the matter of countering cruise missiles rests precisely at this distance, even if its missiles fly further. Moreover, ground-based air defense systems have another drawback — they are not very mobile. Because no air defense system can defend conditional Lviv in the morning, and already in the evening work near Kharkov.
At the same time, a fighter can. Because it not only has a much larger area of cover, but can change air bases and use airfields for jumping or refueling in the air (the latter is not yet available for our fighters).
Also, when repelling an attack of cruise missiles, the fighter goes above them, that is, looks down and has a much better view than ground radars. And it is here that the F-16 has significantly better capabilities than the Soviet MiG-29 or Su-27.
In particular, MiG-29s are equipped with N019 radars, and Su-27s are equipped with N001 radars, and although the possibility of detecting targets on the ground is indicated for them, in practice, detecting cruise missiles is quite a difficult task for them. At the same time, Ukrainian F-16s are equipped with AN/APG-66(V)2A radars, which even have a separate operating mode for detecting ground targets.
It is also possible to recall that the decision to modify the F-16 AN/APG-66 radar to combat cruise missiles in the USA was decided in the late 80s with the development of a special version of the F-16 ADF. This version was specially developed for the US National Guard, which had to repel the attack of the USSR. By the way, the F-16 ADF was also transferred to Ukraine, but for a slightly different role.
And taking into account the fact that the Ukrainian F-16s even received a special update of the EW systems, it is highly probable that the radars on these aircraft will also, at least in terms of software, be updated for even better detection of cruise missiles.
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