On the other hand, Ukraine, although slowly, is being supplied by other countries with the latest weapons. On the way, by the end of the year, already the first fifty F-16 fighters. If Ukraine has been quite successful in this year and a half with 120 obsolete Soviet aircraft,
Sorry for going OT but I wonder what aircraft you consider "obsolete", specially when you compare it with F-16 which you refer to as "latest weapons"!!!
The fighter jets that Ukraine has/had were MiG-29 (introduced on 1983), Su-24 (1974), Su-25 (1981), Su-27 (1984). None of these are considered obsolete specially when compared with F-16 (introduced 1978)! which is older than 90% of what Ukraine had before!
Even if the American F-16s were produced in the seventies of the last century, and the Soviet ones, now used in the war by both Russia and Ukraine, were produced in the eighties, in many respects the “outdated” F-16 is superior to modern analogues of Russian, and even more so Ukrainian models .
Unlike the F-16, the MiG-29, for example, has not been developed since the early 1980s and is considered obsolete, while the F-16 has gone through several modifications. Today it has about 15 variants, the last of which are still produced for export.
If we compare endurance, that is, the maximum time after which the aircraft must be written off, since it becomes unsafe to fly, then the first modifications of the F-16 had a service life of 8 thousand hours. This means that with a normal number of flights, their operation is designed for 40 years. Today, the United States is considering the possibility of extending the service life to another 10 or 12 thousand hours, that is, the aircraft will be able to be used until 2048.
The situation with the MiG-29 is completely different. Initially, they had a resource of only 2.5 thousand hours, and later ones - up to 4 thousand. In other words, half as much, that is, the operation of Soviet fighters is designed for a maximum of 20 years.
The MiG-29 has good speed and slightly higher maneuverability, which gives it the ability to turn 180 degrees two seconds earlier, so the MiG-29 is good in close combat, but in fighter aircraft the advantage goes to the one who detects the enemy first.
The best modifications of Soviet (Russian) fighters with their onboard radar can “see” air targets at a range of more than 200 km and carry out air-to-air missile attacks at a range of 75 km. At the same time, the F-16 can engage air targets at a range of about 300 km and carry out attacks at a range twice that of the enemy, without entering the range of enemy fighters and ground-based air defense systems.
But what makes the F-16 even better is its avionics. Modern versions are equipped with the AN/APG-83 radar, which is simultaneously capable of tracking up to 35 targets and allows firing at 8 of them. In this case, targets can be both air and ground; there is no need to switch modes. At the same time, radars even on modernized MiG-29s (in Russian service) track up to 10 targets and allow attacking only one. And they are completely incapable of identifying ground targets. Moreover, the pilot must highlight the air target with radar before it is destroyed.