Nuo Zelen mediatilaisuudessa takana olevat koneet ovat ilmeisesti vain demonstraatiota varten. Eli valemaaleja ainakin alla olevan pitkähkön twiitin mukaan. Kävisi myös järkeen että tällaista olisi suunniteltu kutem itäkoneidenkin kanssa. En ole itse expertti tässä tunnistuksessa mutta ehkä joku on.
Ha, so I'm not that bad after all, I didn't want to believe that someone would reflect the F-16 in such detail.
Technically speaking, these are not "models" but non-flying aircraft.
More precisely, these are American non-flying aircraft in the F-16 ADF version that were apparently delivered to the UKR. 1/
Why ADF? Notice the 4 IFF antennas on the flight machine and the "shell".
On the left, the machine that stood behind the President of Ukraine, on the right "operational".
These are different systems, and the "protruding" configuration of the one on the right, i.e. APX-109, was only on the ADF. 2/
Here is a nicer comparison of ADF and MLU. There are a few more details but that is a 2nd order issue.
What we have learned is that in addition to the "operational" F-16s from Europe to Ukraine, also the "corpses" of F-16 ADF from the USA probably straight from the desert. 3/
Why does this make me laugh so much?
First, because I am surprised that I am surprised by such a step, why build mock-ups when you can use real F-16s as targets?
Second... because I remembered how many such "mock-ups" the Americans have in Davis–Monthan. 4/
Sticking with the F-16s themselves. If these figures are to be believed, there are currently almost 700 F-16s of various versions in storage at AMARG.
Of course, some of the newer aircraft are too valuable to be cannibalized and turned into targets...but there are probably a few hundred aircraft that could be used for that purpose. 5/
If I were a spiteful Mr. American, for every operational F-16 I would send the Ukrainians another 10 repainted wrecks that are physically indistinguishable after walking 5 meters away from them and then watch as the Ukrainians drive this traveling circus around a dozen or so air bases. 6/
If I were a spiteful Mr. Ukrainian, I would add to this circus my own, slightly less carefully made but cheap models, which I would put next to American non-flyers, and hide operational F-16s in reinforced bunker hangars and watch as the Russians burn out their contacts. 7/
Oh well, all that's left is to wait for the first triumphant news and shots of destroyed F-16s.
To be clear, this doesn't mean that real F-16s won't be lost, but with the UKR's apparently serious approach to simulation, there's a good chance that losses on the ground will be minimized. 8/
The question has arisen as to why I consider these F-16 ADFs from the US to be "flightless", but I will allow myself not to answer it because the internet will soon lynch me for "helping the Russians" - let someone else step out of line.
9/
As for the almost classic accusations of revealing secrets / helping the Russians.
1. If the Ukrainians considered it a secret, they wouldn't have shown these shots.
2. I have too high an opinion of myself, but let's not exaggerate. If something like that was noticed by an amateur farting in an armchair, then surely one of the hundreds of specialists in the field of technical intelligence from the Russian Armed Forces and intelligence services noticed it. 10/
