Kyiv should ask South Korea and others to give their retired F-4 Phantom II fighter jets to Ukraine. South Korea alone has 19 of them, retired this year. It could be of great help to Ukrainian ground forces.
Here a video about the bird:
© 2024 Mike Hilbert
I don’t think so.
They are 50 years old so good luck keeping them flight worthy for some additional decades.
^bert
Did you even watch the video?
I did!
I don’t see how they are any better or more useful than F-16’s.
^bert
Okay, you fucking troll! I did not say Kyiv should get them instead of the F-16s, BUT BOTH!!! Ukraine needs any aircraft they can get hands on! And these, if quickly available, would be very useful since they can even keep up with MIGs and other ruSSian junk. Now GFY and have a nice day! 😎
You can be all aggressive but I really think sending Phantoms is a bad idea. It means yet another platform Ukrainian engineers need to deal with.
For example with tanks this is a problem: only 2 out of the 14 Challenger 2 tanks are active just because they cannot maintain them as they have Soviet tanks, Abrams, Leopards 1 and 2’s (all different versions) and some light tanks as well they need to keep up.
If you add Phantoms to the mix, Ukraine is flying Mig-29, Su-27, Su-25 and Su-24 and F-16’s. That’s 6 different platforms all requiring a separate infrastructure and training of personnel.
Add to this Phantoms are probably a maintenance hell as they come in many very different versions, are over 50 years old and have no spare parts in production.
And as said in the video, not all of them are upgraded with the latest avionics and radar. I don’t think the South Korean ones are. Also, avionics may even be localized to Korean.
If they were in such a great shape and had so much usefulness South Korea wouldn’t have retired them. They are even said to have structural issues and have only been used as a test bed for new weaponry over the last years, not really as active duty aircraft.
Just give the Ukrainians one type of aircraft, preferably modern and with few flight hours. And maybe in the future they can move on to Gripen.
^bert
Okay, you support RuSSia and are afraid of the F-4s. One more reason to get them asap.
If offered, the Ukrainians would of course accept them and put them to good use.
I’m not sure about the practicality of sending them: an availability of parts, weapons systems, support infrastructure etc. But if viable, they should supply them. Can SK supply the AAM’s to go with them?
Supply of aircraft is a vexing question. The RAF has several squadrons of retired Tornado fighter-bombers. I never understood why they were not immediately donated?
Then there is Aus; a very wealthy country that so far just sent nuts and berries. They sent a few Bushmasters: woopie doo. Less than $200m so far.
How about sending their 3 squadrons of F18’s? No one has explained why they could not supply them?
There are many good reasons why SK should help Ukraine a very great deal more than they do now.
The US still has 35,000 troops protecting their asses. The US and UK went to war in order for them to become the tremendously successful economy they are now. So they owe it to us to protect our allies.
Why is it that the US and UK went to war to help SK with whom they had no agreed security assurances, but they refuse to send troops to Ukraine; where they do in fact have a security assurance agreement?
UAF refused the F-18s referring to them as trash.
From Feb 2nd 2024
https://news.yahoo.com/ukrainian-air-force-ukraines-refusal-114000691.html#:~:text=A%20senior%20Ukrainian%20Air%20Force,30.
I refuse to believe that a Ukrainian officer said : “we do not need your flying trash…”
It sounds like putinaZi disinfo.
I will leave a 1% chance that it’s true though.
In fact I have a contact that I can raise this with. If I get any feedback I will let you know.
A rugged platform that could potentially have a niche, especially if paired with F-16s. Availability is good, and many modernized versions could be acquired. Not sure on maintenance required per flight hour or if Ukraine wants to mess with it. Perhaps could tandem the role of the Su-24s.
Have you seen in the video how many bombs the F-4 can carry? It’s more of a bomber than a dogfighter. The perfect weapon to wipe ruSSian trash on the ground. And when equipped with missiles it can also knock out artillery and radar. Japan upgraded their F-4’s with advanced radar. If Ukraine could get a few dozens it would be very helpful. Together with the F-16’s Ukraine would finally have a real air force.
I didn’t see an exact number quoted in the video as to exactly how many bombs they carry, however footage was showing quite a lot being dropped.😎👍
Imagine they would be Ukrainian for a moment.
Another F-4 video
No, this would be a bad idea. Maintenance nightmare. Outdated. If you want a payload, go with the A-10, which is a much more useful close air support airframe. The F-4 would be hindered in an air to air environment, so it would be limited to CAS.
I’m very familiar with the F-4, and its history…its time is just long past.
However the A-10 or OV-10, either, could be of great use.