Due to the constant Russian shelling, Ukraine can hardly afford to build infrastructure for F-16s from scratch, but preparations are underway to adapt our airports to receive the aircraft. This was stated by the spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yuriy Ihnat during a telethon, UNN reports.
Details
Preparation, construction, and adaptation are different things. We can hardly afford to build from scratch the infrastructure that is available in the leading countries, because there are intense hostilities. The enemy will not let us do any construction. You can see that the airfields are being shelled constantly. Our option is to prepare and adapt our airfields, our operational airfields, to receive F-16s. And this preparation is carried out by
He noted that he could not say at what stage the preparations are, but added that the adaptation of the airfields involves minimal preparation of runways so that Western aircraft do not have any obstacles to take off and land from our airfields.
"We have a lot of operational airfields, but we will identify those from which F-16s will operate. The same preparation of places and parking lots for these aircraft should take place as it is now with the Soviet aircraft that we have in service, by dispersing them and camouflaging them," Ihnat added.
The spokesperson said that in 2012 and 2018, F-16 and F-15 aircraft had already operated from Ukrainian airfields covered with reinforced concrete slabs, so "there should be no questions about whether or not the aircraft will be able to take off from our airfields.
Recall
At the end of February, Yuriy Ihnat said that Ukraine was adapting its infrastructure for F-16 aircraft, which would allow it to perform runway missions and stay on airfields.