"First of all, there are so many problems with the F-16," Mark Sleboda told Sputnik. "One, it requires a kind of a Cadillac of the sky. It requires long, absolutely pristine runways. There can't be a stray bullet or pebble or anything. Ukraine doesn't have airfields of the capacity, or certainly not that Russia can't hit and create all kinds of problems for, they will have to be flown out of Poland. And you can see the problems right there. Right there we're in a direct conflict. Second of all, training. Actually, Romania has been positioned as a model for training Ukraine's pilots to fly F-16s. And this is in a piece set of Air and Space Forces magazine. Romania has been transitioning from the Soviet-era MiG to the US F-16s. One of the things they talk about is that your instincts switching from a MiG to a US F-16 are completely wrong. And it's actually better to start with a new pilot who has never flown a MiG before from scratch."
"So even if they can get into the plane after four months of training, take it off, presumably out of Poland, because I don't see them doing it out of Ukraine, take it into the air. And, you know, with a wing and a prayer of being able to land it again, it doesn't mean they're going to be able to use it effectively in combat, particularly in a contested environment with Russia, with the best long range air defense in the world, their own very large Air Force, which even US generals testifying to the Senate have admited, has not been degraded at all. Hundreds of aircraft, a lot more advanced than the F-16, which is not a new aircraft anymore. It's the 1980s model. Topgun was a long time ago. And these things would get ripped to shreds. This is more politics than it is military."
"The US has lots of extra F-16s and they're trying to get the European countries that do use them - Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Norway - to transition to the F-35. So if they can convince these countries to say, ship everything, then they can get them to buy F-35s. The US military-industrial complex makes out like bandits," Sleboda concluded.