or anti-aircraft weapons?
Aren’t they both foreign supplied weapons?
Is there a bigger provocation scale?
What the mishandling of the Mig transfer has shown the world is that the US & NATO will not intervene in the Ukraine. But we are quite willing to deter the Russians to the last Ukrainian regardless of Zelenskyy’s attempts to shame the West into acting.
Well Zelensky, join the Hungerians, S Vietnamese, the Hmong mountain people in Laos, Kurds & and I am sure many other groups used as tools against perceived/imagined existential threats to the "Exceptional nation.
First question is where they would be based? Does Ukraine have a suitable airport or air field still functional? If not, then they get based out of a different nation, and that opens up huge can of worms for them.
The original plan was to transfer the Migs to Ukraine after some advanced avionics were removed. There was never any plan to operate from NATO bases. That would be a declaration of war.
There was never any plan to operate from NATO bases. That would be a declaration of war.
According to the reporting I saw, the concern was Ukrainian pilots flying from either Poland or Ramstein in Germany, could potentially engage Russian aircraft during the flight to a base in Ukraine, making the take-off point involved in the war.
Hence, Plan Steve: Polish pilots deliver the planes to Moldova, hand them over to Ukrainian pilots, who then fly them into Ukraine. Moldova is not a NATO member. Moldova has already been indicated to be a target of Putin, as soon as Ukraine is rolled up, so Moldova would have nothing to lose by helping Ukraine.
Moldova used to have it’s own MiG-29s. Sold or scrapped them all. Too expensive to operate.
According to the reporting I saw, the concern was Ukrainian pilots flying from either Poland or Ramstein in Germany, could potentially engage Russian aircraft during the flight to a base in Ukraine, making the take-off point involved in the war.
Put the aircraft on tank haulers & drive them into the Ukraine.
Put the aircraft on tank haulers & drive them into the Ukraine.
That would work, but require partial disassembly of the planes. The fuselage is wide. I’m not sure it would be roadable with the wings and horizontal stabilizers taken off.
Or, use Plan Steve, and they are in country and ready for service within hours.
Migs have pilots that probably have an ID card or a passport?
Anti-Tank or Anti-Aircraft missiles can be found in a warehouse, lost on a battlefield and picked up and used by whoever happens to have found it. Aren’t you sorry you asked? }};-D
It takes lots of training to drive a MIG, very little to teach someone to blow it out of the sky with a Stinger. Recall how desperately the US was trying to retrieve the Stingers they handed out like lollipops when the Russians were in Afghanistan? The Soviet Strela-2 was actually a knock off of the early American Redeye.