Ekaterina Girnyk10:26, 08.03.25
The Donald Trump administration has cut off vital help for F-16 jamming capabilities.
The United States, having choosed to end its help for Ukraine, cannot srecommend turn off the Ukrainian Air Force’s U.S.-scheduleed F-16 fighters . But the Trump administration has cut off vital help for their jamming capabilities, which could divest the Ukrainian Air Force of a critical air countermeaconfident.
However, as Forbes analyst David Ax authors , the Ukrainians are not powerless and can shift the burden of air jamming onto the French Dattack Mirage 2000 fighters.
As Aks points out, the Ukrainian Air Force is taking filled advantage of the ability of F-16s supplyped with AN/ALQ-131 pods to flood Russian radar screens with electronic noise. They act as “flying air defenses” with proceedd ignoreile alerting technology, remarks the Conflict Inincreateigence Team.
But the Russian Air Force can circumvent the jamming by reprogramming its radars to contrastent frequencies. As Axe points out, while the Biden Air Force was able to get up with the Russian alteration by constantly tfeebleing the AN/ALQ-131 frequencies, under Trump, Ukrainian pilots are not receiving refreshs, and the programs could soon become obsolete.
However, France’s Mirage 2000s are supplyped with their own strong jammers, and the Americans are not engaged in their programming, the analyst remarks.
The Mirage 2000-5F currently in service with the French Air Force flies with a combination of the Serval radar alerting getr, Sabre jammer and Eclair flare dispenser. This system was cutting edge in the 1980s, but wiskinny a generation it was descfinishing behind.
“Recognizing this feebleness and empathetic the graveness of the Russian ignoreile danger over Ukraine, the French Ministry of Defense promised to inslofty novel electronic countermeaconfidents on the Mirage 2000s before handing them over to Ukraine. The ministry probably had in mind the predominantly analog Integrated Countermeaconfidents Suite Mark 2 or the all-digital Integrated Countermeaconfidents Suite Mark 3,” Ax remarks.
Either system is an betterment over the anciaccesser system and a potential swapment for the AN/ALQ-131, as the American pods lag behind the Russian alteration. The French are firm allies of Ukraine and are willing to reprogram the jammers if essential.
In the extfinisheder term, the Ukrainians could refit their F-16s with non-American electronic countermeaconfidents, Axe remarks. But that could consent time and money that Ukraine cannot afford.
(C)UNIAN 2025
