"Aviation cannibalism": Expert explains the serious issue with F-16s
Upgrading such aircraft is very expensive.
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F-16
American partners are transferring F-16s from the 1980s to Ukraine. Unfortunately, we are not receiving the necessary quantity of spare parts for them.
This was stated by Hennadiy Khazan, President of the Ukrainian Pilots’ Aviation Association, during a broadcast of “Den.LIVE.”
“We are forced to engage in aviation cannibalism. They transfer two non-flyable aircraft to us so that we can disassemble them for components and have spare parts for the rest of the aircraft we use in the Armed Forces,” the expert noted.
The expert acknowledges that the F-16 is a very good aircraft when modernized to the BLOCK 70-72 level. According to his estimates, upgrading one F-16 to a modern standard would cost over $200 million. In contrast, modernizing a MiG-29 would cost $30–35 million.
“How much do we have to pay for modernization? Does Ukraine have that money? Look at the level of modernization of the aircraft we’ve been given — late 1980s,” he concluded.