‘Modern Western Aircraft’
Moon of Alabama, Mar 19 2023
More MIG fighters will help Ukraine, but what Kyiv really wants are F-16s.
NYT, Mar 19 2023Yuri Ignat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian air force, said in an appearance on Ukrainian national television Friday morning: “To some extent, this will increase our combat capabilities, but one should not forget that these are still Soviet and not modern Western aircraft.” The Ukrainian argument is that the F-16 is better than the MIG at shooting down cruise missiles because of its powerful radar and modern missiles, and could offer vastly more protection from Russian bombardment.
F-16:
The initial production-standard F-16A flew for the first time on Aug 7 1978 and its delivery was accepted by the USAF on Jan 6 1979. The AN/APG-68, an evolution of the APG-66, was introduced with the F-16C/D Block 25. The APG-68 has greater range and resolution, as well as 25 operating modes, including ground-mapping, Doppler beam-sharpening, ground moving target indication, sea target, and track while scan for up to 10 targets. The Block 40/42’s APG-68(V)1 model added a high-PRF pulse-Doppler track mode to provide Interrupted Continuous Wave guidance for semi-active radar-homing (SARH) missiles like the AIM-7 Sparrow.
The MiG-29, along with the larger Sukhoi Su-27, was developed to counter new US fighters such as the F-15 and F-16. The MiG-29 entered service with the Soviet Air Forces in 1983. The latest upgraded aircraft offered the N010 Zhuk-M, which has a planar array antenna rather than a dish, improving range, and a much superior processing ability, with multiple-target engagement capability and compatibility with the Vympel R-77 active radar homing beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile.
Niqnaq 