Russia - threadbanned users in OP

The US has over a 1000 of F16s in storage with nearly 3000 scattered all over friendly airforces around the world, mostly still in active service. It’s pretty much an endless supply. 

https://www.f-16.net/aircraft-database/F-16/stored-aircraft/airforce/USAF/

If he hates Britain, then he should live in Putin's Russia for awhile.....!!!

I understand they won't be all delivered at once:

I'd basically say it was a case of both countries pledging to give Ukraine their F16's when they retire them. So as F35's arrive to replace F16's, Ukraine will be getting the F16's. Certainly better than leaving them to gather dust like Australia's F18's

That would indicate that the Dutch aircraft are going to be the first ones to be handed over, as the RNLAF already has 26 F-35As operational, in addition to the 8 F-35s based at Luke AFB in the US and used for pilot conversion training. There might be a few Danish F-16B double-seaters thrown in, as they likely won't be much use for pilot training anymore, given that Denmark has also started receiving its F-35As already.

Some good news

Well, in the beginning, it was the thought of what would happen ( public opposition ) if he went full on and made a full declaration of war, that he called it a " Special Military Operation ". So if he's prepared to go the full war footing, means that he has got nothing to lose. Last throw of the dice fo him

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Yeah I don't know how hard it is to turn your economy towards this and your industry as well in this day and age. I just think for Russia it's getting to that point either they do this or for their outlook they must be thinking that we could be fully kicked out of Ukraine and the only way to stop that from happening is to go 100% into this and declare it's a war and have our industry and people put on the war footing. In regards to equipping it I suppose if your industry is geared towards it it would be able to equip it, maybe not in regards to heavy tanks etc. Definitely you would think equipment for a soldier but saying that they seem not to be able to do that even now. One of the major lucky advantages Ukraine are having is Russia are not training the people they mobilise to a high standard or really any standard. I think if they had of been training say 250k troops for the guts of 6 months and had them fully trained and equipped the fight for Ukraine would of been a whole lot tougher but luckily that's not happening.

They would need the support of China or some other country with masses of equipment (Soviet type)

China, especially with a domestic property crash ongoing (sounds familiar eh), knows which side their bread is buttered on. They wouldn't be so stupid as to end up in a sanctions war with the collective West.

Essentially the platform was designed for multi role use. This means the plane can carry air to air and air to ground munitions in the same sortie and switch easily between ground attack and air to air mode mid flight. Russian planes up until very recently cannot do this. They are kitted out for a mission, bombing or air to air while on the ground and cannot "really" change mid flight.

In an ideal scenario these planes would be used as part of a combined arms type set up. Ground forces mark a target, planes blow it up (happens quickly) but in order to do that you need to take control of the sky, and given Russian SAM systems and the presence of Su-35/37's on the battle field it's unlikely they'll be able to fulfil this role. I would imagine American AWACs flying in Poland and Black Sea will however have a direct link to these planes which may make it possible to target things like the KA-52's which have been hampering the offensive significantly.

That's all just speculation though. Time will tell.

I would also be surprised, I'm sure they have had upgrades over the years, but with fighter planes, it's all about the most modern tech. They're the planes that win the battles.

The Dutch & Danish F-16s are Block 20s that have received significant upgrades as part of their mid-life update and are functionally more akin to F-16 C/Ds. They may not have the latest and greatest radar systems, but they can carry pretty much every modern western weapons system, both in the air-to-air and air-to-ground role.

Personally speaking, I think the biggest difference is going to be the massively increased situational awareness that the F-16 provides, both as a result of its design and as a result of the different operational philosophy. I've written about this before, but pretty much all soviet-era aircraft are designed around a strict command & control process where the pilots are effectively told to do one thing and one thing only, often under strict control from the ground. Things did change a little with the MiG-29, but even there, the pilot was still expected to generally follow the orders from ground control, and was given the sensors and systems to do one job, that is be vectored in to a target by ground control until the fighter would get weapons lock.

Compare that to the western approach, which gives pilots much more leeway. Granted, pilots will still be expected to do their job and follow their mission plan, but nowadays, there is an expectation that a pilot in a fighter will be aware of the greater situation around them and thus be able to deal with emergent threats on their own, if able to do so. Granted, the F-16A Block 20 MLU's radar isn't on par with the type of hyper-advanced system that you find on the F-15s or F-35s of this world, but it will still allow the aircraft to engage in BVR engagements far beyond the capabilities of everything that the UkrAF has at the moment. Between that, and the data link capabilities of even early model F-16s, Ukrainian pilots flying these aircraft will have a much better understanding of the battlefield than ever before.

There was many reports that training had started months ago from multiple sources. It could have been as you say, learning English and flight & fighter basics in a classroom.

Yeah saw the same reports.

I'd be amazed if behind the scenes training hasn't been going for months,supply chains being readied, ground crews receiving training, ammunition/missiles being made ready.

Even by their very presence on the battlefield these planes will act as a deterrent to russian attack helicopters.