• Jaysyn@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    Just wait till the F-16 sorties start.

    You won’t be able to swing a cat in here without hitting a whining tankie symp.

    • barsoap@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Those stories already started, some Russian mil-bloggers say that F16s are already in Ukraine which is probably copium. But I wouldn’t be too surprised if this isn’t accidental and Ukrainians re-doubled efforts to take down Russian planes (e.g. via smart and unexpected movements of anti-air installations) in anticipations of F16s coming, they’re a lot more useful more quickly if they don’t have to operate in contested skies. Every air-to-air missile you don’t need to have in your loadout is another air-to-ground one.

    • nekandro@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      The same F-16s that were outclassed by the J-17 in recent military exercises?

      Pakistani pilots are on record saying the F-16 is worse in basically every way compared to a design China considers to be “budget” and “outdated.”

      • popcap200@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        Let’s pretend for a minute that it is actually better. Russia doesn’t field the J-17, so it doesn’t matter.

        • ours@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Also, there’s the airframe and then there are the missiles you put on it. Depending on what these F-16 load up with can make a whole lot of difference.

          I doubt they’ll be doing much dogfighting. The challenge will be to get in the air, fire off missiles, and land back without getting shot down.

          Edit: Oh and another thing that makes a lot of difference is radar assets. I bet those F-16s are going to get extended eyes and ears thanks to NATO AWACS flying high but within NATO borders.

        • nekandro@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          China recognizes that the J-17 is outclassed by the Su-34, so it sort of does matter…

        • nekandro@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          The J-17 was designed for the Pakistan Air Force. Any other operators (Myanmar, Nigeria?) are operators of convenience.

          • Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            I see, so the Pakistani Airforce which commissioned the design and production of the J-17 reports that it is superior to the F-16…

            Whatever helps the copium taste better I suppose.

      • mlg@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Uh source?

        JF-17 is a multirole attack aircraft, F-16 is a multirole air superiority fighter.

        PAF has been very adamant that nothing they have tried compares to the F-16 in performance. Their last air skirmish was an F-16 that shot down an IAF MiG-21 in 2019. Even the J-10s they recently bought are still considered inferior.

        The real joke here is expecting an F-16 to actually reach Ukraine lmao. Pakistan had to basically play double agent to convince the USA to even open F-16 sales. There’s a 0% chance they’re going to give Ukraine F-16s for free, or even let them be leased from other countries.

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        The same F-16s that were outclassed by the J-17 in recent military exercises?

        I mean, even if that’s true… Is that really even a flex? The F-16 platform is 30 years older than the J-17.

  • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    The Sukhoi Su-34 (Russian: Сухой Су-34; NATO reporting name: Fullback)[6] is a Soviet-origin Russian twin-engine, twin-seat, all-weather supersonic medium-range fighter-bomber/strike aircraft.[7][8][9][10] It first flew in 1990, intended for the Soviet Air Forces, and it entered service in 2014 with the Russian Air Force.[11]

    • nekandro@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      It’s sort of a shit design for 2023 tbh.

      Sounds like Ukraine got a new air defense system… Maybe they moved a Patriot battery?

      • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        It’s pretty mid nowadays, nowhere near the levels of the F-22 or F-35. But the F-16 C, D or MLU versions are in almost every way a very modern fighter. Russia does pretty much the same thing, but while an upgrade F-16 is called a ‘block 50’, an upgraded SU-27 is called an SU-30 (or 34, or 35). They’re basically all improved versions of 1970s planes.

        The SU57 and Mig-35 are basically non-existent, if not actually so.

        The F-16 is absolutely not the best fighter out there anymore, but it’s hardly a pushover and at the very least on par with what Russia is fielding.

        • nekandro@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          The F-16 was even outclassed by the J-17 in the recent Pakistani Operation Indus Shield 2023 exercises according to recent reports.

          • popcap200@lemmy.ml
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            9 months ago

            Like I said to the other guy, if that’s even true, it doesn’t matter because Russia doesn’t field the J-17.

              • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
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                9 months ago

                The only reference I could find (headline skimming) is a Pakistani pilot giving the politically correct statement that their native-built fighter is better than the imported one.

      • jonne@infosec.pub
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        9 months ago

        Yeah, that’s the theory. Russia had been using the planes to bomb a Ukrainian beachhead from an area that would keep them out of range for the Soviet-era systems Ukraine has in that area, so Ukraine moved a patriot system there, switched off. When the Russians flew in and they got detected on long range radar, they turned on the patriot and fired.

  • D61 [any]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    Background: On 22 December, Ukrainian defenders shot down three Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers on the southern front.

    Dude… its been three fucking days. Unless the drop in air sorties went from dozens down to zero and stay that way for weeks to a month, this means absolutely nothing.

    • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      True to you. Strikes were reported as irregular, combing in intense series whenever Russia wanted a bigger impact. Saying just a couple of days of lesser bombing means it made an impact is too optimistic. They could’ve prepared ammunition for another bigger strike. But journoes need to write news somehow?

  • nekandro@lemmy.ml
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    9 months ago

    Ukrainian Pravda is basically a propaganda outlet. Why is a mod posting this lmao

        • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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          9 months ago

          They can have their failings, for sensationalism’s sake, but I don’t remember them posting pure masturbatory propaganda. It’s your average news outlet, and usual country-specific biases apply, but nothing Onion-like to see. If anything, let it sit for a day before reacting if it feels too weird.