Fighter jet debate
Poland would cede its MiGs to Ukraine
03/08/2023 10:02 p.m
The debate about the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine is moving. Poland offers to deliver its MiG-29 jets to the neighboring country. It is still open whether this will happen in the near future.
According to President Andrzej Duda, Poland is ready to hand over its Soviet MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine as part of an international coalition. “We are ready to deliver these planes and I am sure that Ukraine would be ready to use them immediately,” Duda told US broadcaster CNN. The Polish agency PAP quoted from it on Wednesday. It is important for the future to train more Ukrainian pilots on US F-16 fighter jets, said Duda during his visit to Abu Dhabi in the Persian Gulf.
The discussion about the Polish MiG-29s came up shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year. According to Polish military experts, the country on NATO’s eastern border still has around 30 machines of this type in use. Many come from old GDR stocks.
However, Duda did not provide any information about the desired international coalition. At the Munich Security Conference in February, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki named a NATO decision as a prerequisite. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said his country would not stop others from supplying fighter jets. Since an international alliance with German participation wants to supply Ukraine with heavy battle tanks, Kiev has been asking for military aircraft. Like Poland, Slovakia is ready to surrender its MiG-29s in consultation with European partners.
Ring exchange with Great Britain?
At the end of February, Great Britain offered to supply fighter jets to Central and Eastern European countries in exchange for their Soviet-built machines being handed over to Ukraine. It’s about countries that have Mig-29 or Su-24 jets, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told Times Radio on Friday. “If they want to donate, we can use our fighter jets to replenish (their stores) and provide security.” NATO partners had the necessary knowledge to fly NATO jets, which Ukraine does not yet have. Whether it comes to such a ring exchange, but is open.
Also under discussion is the delivery of F16 fighter jets to Ukraine. The Netherlands, for example, had shown itself open to this. Germany does not have this type.