[Goose]

Poland sending upgraded Soviet tanks to Ukraine, joining Czechs.

This is great. We just need to get these weapons there in time to matter. Russia appears to be taking their sweet time to start the "next wave". That has helped, but time is the enemy. All kinds of "stuff" delivered after Donbas is gone will not be useless, but it would require Ukraine to fight on from a weaker position. Let's hope they can hold. It appears Ukraine will make no attempt to relieve Mariupol. While that may be a necessary decision, it is regrettable that they can't fix more Russian troops in place there.

I suspect it's only a matter of time until the MIGs are going over as well. I've seen some discussion that perhaps the best MIGs to send are recent models from Egypt that are equipped with newer active radar R77 missiles, more modern than the older Slovakian and Polish MIGs. Egypt may be open to it if they can get some F16s to replace apparently. And coming from a non NATO source might be felt as less escalatory.

Yes, getting MIGs from Egypt would be nice. Again, time is of the essence. The ability of Ukraine to maintain an air force at all is at risk because their airports are all at risk. The fact they have done as well as they have is wonderful, but it can't last. Russia will just keep reducing Ukraine's facilities until none are left. Ukraine needs offensive power to prevent that. Unfortunately, MIGs aren't it. Bombs on target are not their job.

Here from WaPo, sounds like the Ukrainian pilots really just want F16s themselves. Doesn't seem like the US is close to being there yet, but I think it makes sense to at least start training some pilots on them for now for the long haul.

Two weeks to become an F-16 jock? War makes people desperate. It is not exactly like we have F-16s coming out of our ears either. This whole issue is much more problematic than it first appears. An F-16 is not a point defense fighter. The F-102/F-106 were. The USAF philosophy is completely different than the Russians/Ukrainian one. We don't have an IAD approach to air defense, and haven't had one since the mid-70s. Even in the mid 60s, only a very small part of our air force was involved in such a concept. IOW, it ain't that easy. We don't fight like they do and our weapons aren't optimal/designed to do so. You have to change your entire mindset.

[Goose]

Poland sending upgraded Soviet tanks to Ukraine, joining Czechs.

This is great. We just need to get these weapons there in time to matter. Russia appears to be taking their sweet time to start the "next wave". That has helped, but time is the enemy. All kinds of "stuff" delivered after Donbas is gone will not be useless, but it would require Ukraine to fight on from a weaker position. Let's hope they can hold. It appears Ukraine will make no attempt to relieve Mariupol. While that may be a necessary decision, it is regrettable that they can't fix more Russian troops in place there.

I suspect it's only a matter of time until the MIGs are going over as well. I've seen some discussion that perhaps the best MIGs to send are recent models from Egypt that are equipped with newer active radar R77 missiles, more modern than the older Slovakian and Polish MIGs. Egypt may be open to it if they can get some F16s to replace apparently. And coming from a non NATO source might be felt as less escalatory.

Yes, getting MIGs from Egypt would be nice. Again, time is of the essence. The ability of Ukraine to maintain an air force at all is at risk because their airports are all at risk. The fact they have done as well as they have is wonderful, but it can't last. Russia will just keep reducing Ukraine's facilities until none are left. Ukraine needs offensive power to prevent that. Unfortunately, MIGs aren't it. Bombs on target are not their job.

Here from WaPo, sounds like the Ukrainian pilots really just want F16s themselves. Doesn't seem like the US is close to being there yet, but I think it makes sense to at least start training some pilots on them for now for the long haul.

Two weeks to become an F-16 jock? War makes people desperate. It is not exactly like we have F-16s coming out of our ears either. This whole issue is much more problematic than it first appears. An F-16 is not a point defense fighter. The F-102/F-106 were. The USAF philosophy is completely different than the Russians/Ukrainian one. We don't have an IAD approach to air defense, and haven't had one since the mid-70s. Even in the mid 60s, only a very small part of our air force was involved in such a concept. IOW, it ain't that easy. We don't fight like they do and our weapons aren't optimal/designed to do so. You have to change your entire mindset.