74OA said:
It also depends which generation radar, EW and targeting system are installed in the delivered F-16s.
Without something reasonably current, they'll just be a prettier MIG-29.
Absolutely correct. From what you can tell in the OSINT stuff out there Russia is running 2-3 rings of light patrol ships and corvettes with some probably off the books ships that have man pads or machine guns for spotting USVs/drones. I would be very suspicious of ANYTHING afloat once those 16s get delivered West of Crimea. There's obviously a long history of disguised merchantmen going back thousands of years, and the Russians are no strangers to this. (We have done it too back to before the founding so w/e.)
I can think of several operational concepts for creating openings to hit the Russian Navy in Sevastopol and if you watch things carefully you'll see that the Ukes are already using USV and air drones to execute combined attacks on the port now. I am 100% certain that when they're doing that there is real time observation on those attacks for future targeting info. If you check the maritime traffic there is a big empty space in the north western Black Sea that is most assuredly not empty. Hell I wouldn't run AIS as a trawler out there either.
Speaking of which it still astounds me that the Russians built some of their newest corvettes without native anti-air missiles on board. Strapping a TOR to your flight deck is bananas.