I gunned them down.
That made me laugh!
And we thought we could beat that tailwind on that tiny runway…
Cool stuff!
The Viggen is not nearly as hi-tech as the Viper of course and isn’t designed with a bunch of post start tests. The Crew Chief didn’t talk to the pilot after removing the ladder. Everything was hooked up and ready to go when the pilot arrived. In fact, the Viggen could launch without a crew chief.
Just watch for the start hand signal, look around and repeat the signal. Check that the air/power hose disconnects automatically, remove the chock when the pilot give the chock away sign. Salute when ready.
Which is just one more reason why the Gripen is a far better choice for Ukraine.
The Viggen is always the answer…
But I think the Gripen would be better.
Still, the Viper will serve them well. They seem to be operating from secure airbases.
Daoh! Fixed that. I hope that you are right about the Viper. It will take a lot more than pilots to support it.
Thing is, before a fighter pilot is ready to fight his best on a new plane, it takes at least 2 years… I hope for the best but I don’t think any Ukrainian pilot will actively perform in this conflict on a Viper.
True.
But getting Vipers is more about showing Russia that The Ukraine is moving closer to NATO, I guess. That, and they must start on new hardware anyway, so the sooner the better. But doing so in the middle of a war is decidedly not optimal…
Agree on the whole
I am 100% sure that all the Vipers Ukraine is getting will be flown by Ukrainian pilots. Just like all the Mig-21’s in the Vietnam War were flown by North Vietnamese
There is a lot going on in the shadows that we will never know about. A pair of Tu-22’s over 600km from the border were taken out by a ‘Ukrainian’ drone?
That was ‘somebody’ sending a message!