[engine whirring]
-Before every flight, fear is the norm.
But it is important that it's not panic.
-This is footage inside the cockpit of a Ukrainian MiG-29
over the country's Kherson region.
The mission defend two Ukrainian su-25s
from Russian fighters and air defenses
as they make their attack runs.
They're flying in the weeds on the deck.
In other words, dangerously close to the ground
at more than 500 mph.
The pilot flies low to stay off Russian radar
as long as possible.
-The lower we fly, the later we will be discovered.
-At 29, Major Vadym Voroshylov, callsign "Karaya."
is already an experienced
MiG-29 pilot and social media star.
But even as Karaya's skills as a pilot get him home safely,
the Soviet-era tech in his MiG-29
makes it vulnerable to the more modern fighters
of the Russian Air Force.
Those planes sit at a higher altitude,
ready to fire long-range missiles targeted
using long-range radar.
According to Major Voroshylov, Russian fighters like this Su-35
and its variants can detect his MiG at 125 miles
and can fire air-to-air missiles soon after.
But he can only detect the Russian planes 45 miles out.
Although these numbers can vary depending on the equipment,
armament, and the types of jets used.
This is also one of the main reasons
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy,
has been lobbying the US and its allies
for American made F-16 fighter jets.
-So this is one of the deficiencies
that the Ukrainians are currently suffering from.
Their MiG-29 fleet is they simply don't have
the kinds of radar capabilities that the F-16 possesses,
which then allows the F-16 to employ
air-to-air missiles at a much longer range
than they currently possess.
-Boxbox!
The longer we wait,
the more we will lose the best pilots
with experience who win in the air
in old and imperfect Soviet equipment.
-Yet for months, the Biden administration
refused the request for F-16s.
-Will the United States provide F-16s to Ukraine?
No.
-Mr. President! -Mr. President!
-Then at the G7 Summit in May,
the White House gave European allies the go ahead.
So what changed?
The turnaround, according to officials,
comes amid concern that the war will continue this year
and perhaps beyond.
-Ultimately, time is on Russia's side.
If you're just involved in a slugfest
that is ongoing on the ground, Putin doesn't care for,
you know, the well-being of the people
that he's exposing on the front lines.
And so he'll just do another call up
of another 300,000 folks.
But as Zelenskyy and Kiev celebrate the plan...
-And I want to thank you and all the partners
about this decision about training mission.
It's really, really very, very important.
-...US officials are tamping down expectations.
-And F-16s -- There's no magic weapons in war.
And sometimes certain things get labeled as,
you know, there's going to be the magic weapon.
There are no magic weapons.
An F-16 is not and neither is anything else.
-And looking toward a longer-term solution
for Ukraine's security.
-As we go forward, F-16s clearly have a role.
Ukraine deserves a capable air force.
It's going to take a considerable length of time
to build up an air force that's the size
and scope and scale that will be necessary.
-So how will F-16 training by European allies work?
And will the F-16 be better than what Ukraine has now?
-I don't want to lend the impression
that it's like hopping from a Chevy into a Ford,
into a Tesla.
No, it's not that simple.
But on the other hand, it's not extraordinarily complex
because they understand modern fighter aircraft.
Where the time comes in is learning the new weapon systems
and it takes a bit of time.
The most recent analysis was about four months
to take a MiG-29 to 27 trained pilot
and get them able to effectively operate an F-16.
-And with this training,
how could NATO F-16s be used in Ukraine?
-Get down! [artillery blasts]
-The war's devolved into
an artillery slugfest that resembles World War I.
And it's air power
that is the one asymmetric advantage
that can break this stalemate and fundamentally give Ukraine
a decisive advantage over the Russians.