I wrote this the other day on Twitter, and wrote it there because it's on Twitter that I have seen several personalities, from annalists and politicians to public figures, all over the so-called West, "demanding" that the US stop with trying to find weapons in other countries to send to Ukraine and just send their owen advanced weapons systems, such as Patriot SAM systems or F-16 fighter jets, and even demanding Israel as well to send their own Iron Dome air defense system.
But I must admit that I can't really understand why so many people, some of who shoudl really know better, continue to think that the West (or any other country) can simply send an advanced weapons system (fighter jets, air defense, coastal defense) to Ukraine and that its military can simply pick them up and just start to use it, like they have been using the systems they currently have! These systems are not like a more advanced vacuum cleaner, or a better armed and better armored military jeep, that ukrainians just set it up, turn it on and start using.
Most systems require training, that in some cases can take several months, and additional integrations with other existing systems before they can be properly and effectively used in the battlefield.
This is why most countries that are helping are currently sending mostly stuff the ukrainians already used or new equipments (such as helmets, clothing, small arms munitions) that require no training whatsoever. Sending them Patriots, F-16s, Iron Dome, or any other advanced and complex systems won't make any good as they would be not used for a while. And would even divert resources, to receive training for these systems, that are currently needed in the field for fighting the russians.
This is exactly the reason why NATO countries, in particular the US, are trying to locate older soviet or russian equipment in reserve, that Ukraine would be able to use immediately as it is the same, or very similar, to the ones they already have and wouldn't require any additional (time consuming) training. Some NATO countries have those (S-300 and Buk air defense, the polish Mig-29s mentioned a while back, for example) hence the talks and negotiations for send these equipments in exchange for NATO (or american) ones, that are more recent and more advanced.
All these demands and criticism that we see online, about sending more advanced equipment and the accusations that are linked to the demands are a bit silly. Sure, it is to be expected from regular folks since many people don't really know how these things work, but I thought this was explained before by experts and it's difficult to continue to see people with responsibility proceeding with this nonsense.
No comments:
Post a Comment