The United States will transfer “more advanced aviation” to Ukraine in the event of a “prolongation of the war” or allow the transfer of F-16 fighters from other countries, the Financial Times writes , citing sources among American officials.
According to them, the supply of fighter jets to Ukraine will be discussed on February 14 at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. At the same time, they emphasize that obtaining combat aircraft is a longer-term goal, while the supply of ammunition is a priority.
Prior to this, US President Joe Biden said that Washington would not send F-16s to Kyiv. But the Ukrainian authorities, after the Western countries approved the supply of tanks, began to actively seek to obtain fighters. Britain promised to start training Ukrainian pilots in the spring, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak instructed the defense minister to explore the possibility of supplying aviation to Kyiv. French President Emmanuel Macron also did not rule out the transfer of combat aircraft to Ukraine.
At the same time, Washington believes that for the time being it is necessary to focus on protecting the airspace of Ukraine and supply Kyiv with a sufficient number of artillery shells, since “this war has turned into an artillery duel.” On the eve of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg outlined the main problem at the moment: the Ukrainian forces spend more ammunition than produced by the countries of the bloc, and Russia uses four times more.
“What we need most to focus on is ensuring that Ukraine can defend its airspace – and it will do so with air defense systems equipped with the right munitions,” the FT source in Washington said. According to him, the fighters “are not and will not be as effective against the Russian air force as integrated air defense systems.”
At the end of January, Lockheed Martin, which manufactures American F-16 combat fighters, announced its readiness to supply its aircraft to EU countries so that they send them to Ukraine. According to Chief Operating Officer Frank St. John, Lockheed Martin “is going to increase F-16 production in Greenville [South Carolina] to get to the point where we can effectively support any countries that decide to transfer aircraft to third parties in order to help resolve the current conflict.
In the EU, the scheme with the re-export of fighters is considered one of the options that will help supply Kyiv with combat aircraft. American planes could be sent to former Warsaw Pact countries, which would then send their Soviet-made planes to Kyiv, according to sources among European officials.
Source: Moscow Times
