It definitely isn’t a win now button for Ukraine. Some estimates are they’d need several hundred to achieve air superiority, and then they’d still need to be able to follow though on the ground. But any additional airframes will help first stop Russian glide bomb attacks, then allow Ukrainian contested close air support of their own.
At least 1 f-16 is airborne over Ukraine as of today.
The pilots and crews have been being trained for some time.
This is the beginning.
Hopefully the beginning of the end of the Russian invasion, but let’s see.
It definitely isn’t a win now button for Ukraine. Some estimates are they’d need several hundred to achieve air superiority, and then they’d still need to be able to follow though on the ground. But any additional airframes will help first stop Russian glide bomb attacks, then allow Ukrainian contested close air support of their own.