Russian attack | Ukraine is already harboring hopes for F-16 fighters

Foreign countries|Russian invasion

in Ukraine it would take about half a year to train its pilots to fight with western fighter jets like F-16 fighters. This is reported by the Reuters news agency.

Spokesman of the Air Force of Ukraine Juri Ihnat said Friday that modern F-16 fighter jets could be the best option for Ukraine’s new multirole fighters to replace the country’s Soviet-era planes.

“Pilots say there would be no problem flying the F-16, they could learn it in weeks. Fighting with these planes is a very different thing… the pilots would learn it in about half a year,” Ihnat said at the press conference.

The F-16 is a fighter model of the US arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Chief Operating Officer Frank St. John said a British newspaper on Wednesday For The Financial Times (FT) that the arms manufacturer is ready to meet the increased demand for F-16s.

One of the White House’s national security advisers Jon Finer told MSNBC on Thursday that the United States is “very carefully” exploring the idea of ​​giving fighter jets to Ukraine.

Western countries arms aid took a major new turn this week when the US and Germany announced they were sending modern battle tanks to Ukraine.

White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby though said for CNN on Friday that the US-donated Abrams tanks will not be in Ukraine until months later.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on the other hand, said that the Leopard wagons sent by Germany would be in Ukraine between March and April.

Online magazine Politico Western military and diplomatic sources interviewed say that discussions about the fighter jets to be given to Ukraine have already started. Support for the project comes especially from the Baltic countries.

“The next natural step would be fighter jets,” a northern European diplomat told Politico.

Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra already told his country’s parliament last week that the Netherlands would look into Ukraine’s request for F-16 fighters, if one came.

“We have an open mind, there are no taboos,” Hoekstra stated.

According to the FT, the Netherlands has forty F-16 fighter jets and is currently decommissioning them after purchasing more advanced F-35 fighter jets to replace them.

Seven other NATO countries, such as Norway and Poland, also have F-16 fighters.