General Tricarico It Would Take Less Than Two Months The Weapon That Changes Everything

Russian President Vladimir Putin has once again evoked nuclear weapons, but Chinese diplomacy is moving Here is the opinion of General Leonardo Tricarico, former Chief of Staff of the Air Force from 2004 to 2006 and now president of the ICSA Foundation for strategic studies.

General, how risky is the Russian suspension of the New START treaty on strategic atomics? «The announcement of the suspension of the New START by Russia is part of the warlike rhetoric of Putin's speech From an operational point of view, nothing changes, Russia's existing warheads are enough to upset Europe.

No need to build more If anything, it is worrying that, with New START, Putin once again evokes the nuclear charter by tying it to another passage of his speech, the accusation against West to threaten Russia's very survival.

It recalls the Russian nuclear doctrine, which provides for the use of atomic bombs even in the event of conventional attacks that threaten the existence of the Russian state" Will the Chinese be able to mediate? «The Chinese diplomatic initiative is the only good news these days.

Only China has the diplomatic clout to mediate Previous attempts, by Turkey or Israel, did not work due to the insufficient clout of these nations.

If it is true that Beijing's plan, of which we have no details, but only indiscretions, speaks of territorial integrity of Ukraine, but also of security guarantees for everyone, including Russia, it is certainly more feasible than the Zelensky in 10 points, which is just a catch-all ace However, it seems that the Chinese do not provide for the protection of minorities, as a guarantee for the Donbass.

I had already written that a credible plan should provide for special protection for Donbass, in exchange for the definitive freezing of further NATO enlargements A special statute could also be studied for Crimea».

How do you judge the current situation on the ground? «The stalemate continues in Bakhmut and in the rest of the front The Russians have the advantage in numbers and can build reserves quicker than the Ukrainians, but size is not everything and does not in itself translate into combat capability.

Russian logistics are precarious and morale is low, also because volunteers complain that they are paid little The Wagner company then elbowed in search of visibility, claiming successes, but accused the army not to give her weapons and ammunition.

The Ukrainians, on the other hand, have high morale, because they fight for their territory and continue to reorganize themselves and improve their skills, including technological ones In fact, the front remains in balance, except for oscillations of a few kilometres".

Ukrainians are asking for Western fighter planes Italy is also said to have offered a handful of Tornados and AMXs.

As an Air Force general, what do you think? «I exclude that Italy supplies a handful of Tornadoes or AMXs, which would not be needed and, indeed, due to logistical complications, would be sand inserted into the gears of Zelensky's war machine The idea of ​​Italian fighters in Kiev is a journalistic invention.

An aircraft useful to the Ukrainians would be the F-16, built in 4600 specimens, operating in 20 countries L' F-16 is available in quantity because many nations have said they are in favor of giving it up, such as the Netherlands, which is replacing it with the F-35.

It is a multi-role fighter, it can carry out various types of missions, unlike the AMX which can only do one thing, light attack The F-16, on the other hand, as well as an interceptor and air superiority fighter, can carry out deep attack missions, carrying over 2,000 kg of bombs».

But it is said that delivering the planes requires a long time, which would reach after the war «Nonsense has been said about the delivery times of the planes As a pilot I can say that, estimating a Ukrainian Mig-29 pilot with average skill, the time needed to learn to fly the F-16 does not exceed 2-3 weeks.

If We Add Time For Operational Training, I E

learning how to use it in warfare, it's another 2-3 weeks Let's say that, as sufficient training to fly into battle, we are a total of a month and a half, maximum two months.

Perhaps training ground personnel in the logistics and maintenance of a sophisticated aircraft would take a few more weeks, but it doesn't take years as some have said ' Could it be that the planes are being delayed to prevent the Ukrainians from bombing Russia? F-16s with auxiliary tanks would arrive in Moscow «Of course, with the F-16s in Ukrainian hands there is a risk of escalation.

The Russians would get even more annoyed I believe that, as the Ukrainians have already promised not to carry out deep attacks on Russian territory, they will formulate a similar promise even if they receive F-16s".

How long will the conflict last? “War can go on indefinitely Like last year, we will see fighting with a karst trend, between calmer periods and periods with fighting peaks.

He comes out with diplomacy, or with unexpected events, such as a collapse of political power in Moscow A government crisis for a war-weary public would also be possible in Ukraine, but less likely because Ukrainians know what they are dying for.

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