No schedule for delivery
Ukraine gives up hope of F-16 jets this year
8/17/2023 8:43 am
Ukraine keeps pushing for delivery of F-16 fighter jets from the West. A few weeks ago, US security policy circles said they wanted to deliver the jets earlier than planned. Apparently nothing will come of it this year.
According to Ukraine, it will not be able to use US-made F-16 fighter jets this year. “It is already clear that we cannot defend Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets this fall and winter,” Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat said on Ukrainian television at a fundraising gala. “We had high hopes for this plane to become part of our air defenses and protect us from Russian missiles and drone terrorism.” The fact that Ukrainian pilots and technicians could start training on the jets “in the near future” is progress, Ihnat was quoted as saying by the Kiev media.
Ukraine has repeatedly asked its western allies for F-16 fighter jets. Just a few weeks ago, Ukrainian presidential adviser Michailo Podoliak emphasized that Ukraine needs, among other things, up to 80 fighter jets to liberate Russian-held areas. It takes “60 to 80 F-16 fighter jets to seal off the airspace well,” he said.
US President Joe Biden backed training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 aircraft in May, but has not yet given a timeline for delivery. In addition, the United States was open to training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets in the United States. If the capacity for such training is reached in Europe, the US could take over the training, says White House spokesman John Kirby. Washington is striving to advance education. No concrete plans have been announced for this either.
Training not yet organized
About four weeks ago, high-ranking US security politicians said they wanted to deliver F-16 jets earlier than expected. Kiev should therefore use the fighter jets this year, it said. “Look, the F-16s will probably be there by the end of the year,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told Fox News.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at a security conference in Aspen that the US was “hurrying” to get the F-16 to Ukraine, according to a report by US magazine “Politico”. “We’re going to push as hard as we can,” Sullivan was quoted as saying. That would speed up the schedule. Biden’s security advisor had previously emphasized that the main obstacle was that the European partners needed a few more weeks to set up the necessary training infrastructure.
A coalition led by Denmark and the Netherlands formed within NATO in the summer to train Ukrainian pilots for the F-16. The USA also agreed to this. Aircraft could also be handed over later from stocks in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark or Norway. However, the promised training between those involved has not yet been organized. The current ground offensive by Ukrainian troops suffers from the lack of air protection.
In an interview with ntv.de, Colonel Markus Reisner assumes that the hesitant training of pilots on the F-16 is also part of the West’s strategy of not allowing the conflict to escalate. “There are around 3,000 F-16 jets in use around the world and it hasn’t been possible to train additional pilots and deliver the aircraft for months,” said Reisner.