American F-16s 'Might Not Last Very Long' if Delivered to Ukraine

“You would have to do a lot of work to get those Ukrainian, old Soviet-pattern runways to a clean enough state to use an F-16 without high risk of foreign object debris going in and damaging the engines," he said.
There are several reasons why the F-16 jets require particular airfields. First of all, the F-16s have "fairly lightweight" landing gear, so that "there is no more weight on the jet than there needs to be." The compact and maneuverable multi-role fighter aircraft is distinguishable for its large air intake under the nose that "sucks everything from the ground directly into it,"continued the expert, adding that “F-16s typically require very clean, very well-maintained air bases."