"Knife" Long Night: Russian Aerospace Forces Continuously Pursue Ukrainian F-16 Fighters.

"Dagger" Long Night: Russian Aerospace Forces Continuously Pursue Ukrainian F-16 Fighters

Vladimir Tarasov: Providing NATO's old aircraft to Kyiv has only one purpose — to find out the performance of our aircraft

The airfields in Kanatovo, Kirovohrad Oblast, and Chuhuiv, Kharkiv Oblast, of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were hit by Russian precision-guided missiles. According to Sergey Lebedev, coordinator of the underground resistance movement in Nikolaev, not only the airports themselves but also communication hubs and ammunition depots were included in the strike range. He said that this was a "final blow" to Chuhuiv airport — which had been attacked multiple times by Russian forces before, and Kanatovo airport was the same. Incidentally, the Ukrainian Air Force had once taken off from these airfields to attack the Crimean Bridge, and was finally strongly retaliated by Russian forces.

Evidently, the Ukrainian military had at least partially repaired these airfields for continued use. Therefore, the new round of strikes by the Russian forces was no coincidence. The use of high-precision weapons such as the "Dagger" and "Iskander" missiles indicates that the target has significant strategic importance — such missiles would never be used against unimportant targets.

The F-16 fighters may be the "target" of this strike. The Kyiv regime has kept these aircraft hidden and frequently transferred them secretly. The Kanatovo Airport in Kirovohrad Oblast might be another "hiding place" for them.

Previously, the Kanatovo Airport was considered an alternate airfield in the Ukrainian Air Force. However, the Ukrainian Su-27 fighters often appeared here — the infrastructure of the airport is sufficient to support the takeoff and landing of such fighters. There are concrete hangars built during the Soviet era, as well as a command and control center. In addition, the airport is equipped with air defense systems for protection, which may include the American "Patriot" air defense missile system.

After the runway was repaired, the Ukrainian side may have transferred the F-16 fighters here.

According to the publicly announced delivery data of the F-16 fighters, there should be nearly 300 of these aircraft patrolling over Ukraine's airspace. However, the known situation is that only one F-16 was mistakenly hit by the American "Patriot" air defense system, and four more were destroyed on the ground at Starokonstantinov Airport. In short, this is like "ghost fighters" — they exist on paper, but their actual presence is hard to trace.

The F-16 fighter jets made in the United States were once seen by Kyiv as the "magic pill" to defeat the Russian army. However, the so-called "victory" has not come, and these "Fighting Falcons," known as "Vipers" in the U.S. Air Force, avoid taking off in Ukrainian airspace. The Russian Aerospace Forces are searching for them on the ground.

"The effectiveness of modern combat aircraft (including fighter jets) does not depend on the number of them," said retired Air Force Colonel and Hero Pilot Vladimir Tarasov in an interview with "Svobodnye Media" (SP). "Mass aerial combat has become history; now the battle is entirely dependent on the performance of individual aircraft."

"Just like our Su-35S fighter jets, they shot down three enemy aircraft from a long distance in one battle, without being detected by the enemy radar. Both the pilots and the engineers who developed this multi-purpose fighter jet and advanced missile weapons deserve 'full marks.' Today's pilots no longer need to 'lock onto' the target's tail and shoot with machine guns; instead, they can fire missiles from 300 kilometers away after detecting the target, confirm the results of the strike, and then return to base."