전투기 우크라이나는 F-16을 원함

[위종민]

M1과 레오파르트II를 얻어내는 데 성공한 우크라이나가 이제 F-16을 원하고 있습니다. 사실 작년부터 요구하고 있기는 했지요. 

한국전쟁 당시는 미군은 F-80, F-84, F-86을 날리면서 한국엔 F-51을 지원했는데, F-5같은 해외지원용 2선급 전투기가 없으니 쉽게 지원할 만한 전투기가 없네요. 이참에 한국에서 FA-50이랑 T-50 지원해서 급한대로 CAS에도 쓰고 F-16 전환훈련용으로도 써 보게 하는 건??

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/ukraine-wants-f-16s-the-u-s-and-nato-arent-budging/ 

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon of the Ohio Air National Guard’s 180th Fighter Wing flies over Iowa Aug. 11, 2022. U.S. Air National Guard photo by Airman 1st Class Tylon Chapman

Ukraine Wants F-16s. The U.S. and NATO Aren't Budging | Air & Space Forces Magazine

Chris Gordon

6-8 minutes

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Ukraine is stepping up its appeals for modern fighter jets now that the U.S and NATO allies have agreed to send main battle tanks to help counter Russia’s stepped up ground attacks, a Ukrainian official said. 

“Until today, the major focus in the discussions have been the tanks,” Yuriy Sak, an advisor to Ukraine’s defense minister Oleksii Reznikov told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Now we’ll start talking about jets.” 

American-made F-16s top Ukraine’s wish list. Swedish-made Gripens, designed to operate from spartan airfields with a limited support crew, as well as other fourth-generation fighters also would be welcomed by Kyiv, but Sak said Ukraine’s hope is that Washington will eventually support the transfer of F-16s. 

“F-16[s] are best suited for our situations,” Sak said.  

Ukraine has repeatedly asked for Western jets since the start of the war. It has also sought longer-distance ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles. But the Biden administration so far has held the line at weapons with the reach to take the war beyond Ukraine’s borders, fearing such a move might be seen by the Russians as escalatory, leading to a direct clash between U.S. and Russian forces.  

Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said in a Jan. 26 briefing that F-16s were “another challenging system that would require training,” noting that even if the aircraft were provided, it would take time for Ukraine’s pilots to become proficient enough for combat.  

The U.S. and its partners have gradually expanded the types of weapons systems provided to Ukraine, and some weapons that the West initially declined to provide have, ultimately, been offered, including the PATRIOT air defense system and M1 tanks. Ukrainian troops are training to operate PATRIOT at Fort Sill, Okla. The Netherlands and Germany have since also pledged to provide PATRIOT systems.  

Just a week after the Pentagon strongly argued the case against providing Abrams M1 tanks, President Biden decided to do so anyway after Germany declined to send or allow others to send German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine unless the U.S. offered its own M1s.   

It’s not yet clear where those tanks will come from. General Dynamics could produce new tanks or refurbish existing tanks from the U.S. inventory. Either way, it will take months if not a year before the M1s arrive, making them arrive too late for any sort of spring offensive. But the U.S. no longer seems concerned that the Abrams can’t be supported by Ukraine.   

“The Ukrainians have proven that they can learn complicated, complex, challenging systems,” Singh said. 

Airpower 

Plans to bolster Ukraine’s air forces are still unclear, but the issue is becoming a major concern. 

“Unless Ukraine acquires a replacement fighter force of Western origin in the coming months, it will lose the ability to defend its airspace and support its ground forces, and without control of their airspace they will lose,” said retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “Some have raised the practical challenges of pilot training, supply, maintenance, etc. The Ukrainian Air Force can overcome these challenges.” 

Air power analysts have said providing Western aircraft and more advanced air-to-air missiles are essential to enabling Ukraine to defend its cities and infrastructure against punishing missile and Shahed drone attacks. 

“The Ukrainian Air Force fighter force needs modern Western fighters and missiles to sustainably counter the VKS,” the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) wrote in a November report, referring to the Russian Aerospace Forces. “Russian pilots have been cautious throughout the war, so even a small number of Western fighters could have a major deterrent effect.” 

Justin Bronk, a co-author of that report, said in an interview that the addition of Western fighters would provide Ukraine with a “much better ability” to defend against Russian air threats and cruise missile and drone attacks.  

Due to Russia’s air defenses, he said, providing the aircraft to Ukraine “would not be a decisive battlefield swing in terms of their ability to conduct air support.” 

The most significant threat to Ukrainian aircraft, according to RUSI, are Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile sites deployed in Russian-occupied Crimea and Belarus, which has forced Ukrainian pilots to fly low to avoid detection. This would likely still be the case even if Ukraine was provided with Western fourth-generation fighters. 

“I think it’s really crucial to understand the constraints that will be placed by dense and in some cases very long-range Russian ground-based threats,” Bronk said. “They would all have great difficulty operating above very low level within tens of kilometers from the frontline. So they would have to stay low. That would greatly constrain their weapons employment and their sensor picture options.”  

The U.S. has provided Ukraine’s Air Force with AGM-88 HARM air-to-surface anti-radiation missiles that can be used against surface-to-air missile sites. Recently, the U.S. has added more strike capability by providing 4,000 Zuni rocket aircraft rockets, a legacy U.S. weapon that carries a small warhead as well as providing an unspecified number of JDAM precision-guided bombs. But defense officials have repeatedly said that providing aircraft is not a priority for the Biden administration. 

The U.S. and its allies decision to provide infantry fighting vehicles, armed personnel carriers, and main battle tanks is intended to help Ukraine make a push to regain more ground. The U.S. is also conducting combined arms training in Europe to help Ukraine employ those capabilities by training Ukraine troops in tactics used by Western militaries. 

But the U.S. does not fight a war without air power, and Ukraine has been pleading for Western jets for many months. 

To be most effective, Bronk said, Western aircraft should be paired with modern air-to-air missiles, such as the AIM-120 AMRAAM. He cautioned, however, there are technology security concerns if missiles that miss their target fall into Russian hands. 

“There’s a big question mark on sensitivity about whether we would even be willing to provide those things,” he said. 

[백선호]

지금 당장 줄 수 있는 것은 우리 공군이 갖고 있는 FA-50뿐인데 FA-50이 가더라도 러시아의 S-400, MiG-31BM이 없어지기 전에는...ㄷㄷㄷ

게다가 우리가 그렇게 할 리도 없지만 만약에 그렇게 하면 러시아가 대놓고 북한에게 무기를 지원할 것 같네요.

[위종민]

하긴 K2나 K9와는 달리 FA-50은 우리도 여유있게 가진 건 아니니.

긴급 지원이 가능한 기체는 Justin Bronk가 말한 그리펜이나 유럽 각국의 레거시 호넷, 미국 주방위군의 F-16 등일 것 같은데 실제 어떤 기체가 지원이 될 지..

[마로]

애초에 한국산 무기체계 공급 자체를 일절 안 하고 있는데 서방 다른 어느 국가도 하지 않은 전술기 공급이라니 어불성설이죠.

[위종민]

네 글을 올리다 든 뻘생각을 정제하지 않고 써놨네요.

신냉전 시대가 왔는데, 자체개발이건 다른 나라 기체를 라이센스하건 F-5나 F-104같은 (F-104는 자국 공군도 썼지만) 해외에 뿌려줄 저가 저성능-중가 중성능 기체가 필요할 듯 합니다.

[백선호]

참고로 APG-68 레이다로는 순항 미사일은 거의 못잡는다는 얘기가 있습니다.

http://cafe.daum.net/NTDS/515G/3823

Emerging threats are among the biggest reasons for provisioning the AESA radar. The F-16’s previous APG-68 fire control radar had near-zero capability against cruise missiles, which means the AESA radar provides new capabilities for the legacy aircraft, explained Trujillo.

그래서 이제 APG-83 AESA 레이다를 단 F-16들은 크루즈 미사일 막는 임무도 할 수 있다고.

https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3072483/aesa-radar-launches-f-16-into-next-generation-of-airpower/