ANALYSIS – Joe Biden changed his mind again. After months of saying no to F-16 jet fighters for Ukraine, the besieged country’s quest for the American combat aircraft got a big boost over the weekend when Biden agreed to train Kyiv’s pilots to fly them.
This is just the first step to then provide the Fighting Falcon to Ukraine. The question now is who will provide them first? The United States or its allies?
Biden’s comments at the G7 leaders’ summit in Japan came days after Britain and the Netherlands said they were building an “international coalition” to help Ukraine procure F-16s as it seeks to improve its air warfare capabilities. (RELATED: Biden Opens Door To Supplying Ukraine With F-16s)
Where they will come from is the question.
National Security adviser Jake Sullivan said there was no final decision on Washington sending combat aircraft. But that’s what they said about U.S. Abrams tanks not long ago, too. And they are already being delivered.
U.S. and NATO governments have been wary of leaving their own countries undefended by giving away too much military hardware and munitions. They have also avoided, till recently, sending weapons that could strike into Russian territory, giving Moscow an excuse to broaden the war.
The F-16s, one of the world’s most ubiquitous fighters, would be a significant upgrade to the largely Soviet-era aircraft currently in Ukraine’s fleet. There are over 2,800 active F-16s worldwide, including 936 in the U.S. Air Force and 610 in European inventories.
A further 678 are flown by countries in the Middle East and Africa, 520 in Asia and 66 in Latin America.
Made by Lockheed Martin, the F-16 Fighting Falcon is a compact, multi-role fighter aircraft. Highly maneuverable, it has proven itself in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack.
It isn’t new but has been constantly upgraded and still provides a relatively low-cost, high-performance aerial weapon system.
According to the Air Force these are the jet’s capabilities:
Speed: 1,500 mph (Mach 2 at altitude)
Range: more than 2,002 miles ferry range (1,740 nautical miles)
Ceiling: above 50,000 feet
Armament: one M-61A1 20mm multibarrel cannon with 500 rounds; external stations can carry up to six air-to-air missiles, conventional air-to-air and air-to-surface munitions and electronic countermeasure pods
President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine would be a sure signal from the world that Russia would be defeated. However, others are more skeptical, arguing the planes will definitely help but not necessarily be ‘game changers.’
If sent, this would be the first Western-designed jets given to Ukraine. Poland and Slovakia have together supplied 27 Russian-made MiG-29s to supplement Ukraine’s existing fleet.
Poland has said it will give more of the Soviet-era jets. However, Polish President Andrzej Duda has added that Warsaw has too few F-16s to give any to Ukraine.
Any coalition of donors of the F-16 would likely require backing from the United States, by far the largest operator of the combat jets. Some European countries don’t have F-16s or don’t have enough F-16s to spare. Britain doesn’t fly them. Neither does France nor Germany.
There are a couple of NATO countries that could provide them though.
Denmark said in February it was “open” to the idea of sending jet fighters to Ukraine. It has about 30 F-16s in operation. The Netherlands has 24 F-16s operational until mid-2024 when they will be replaced by F-35s.
Both are the most likely first options.
Norway has pledged to train Ukrainian pilots. It also retired its entire F-16 fleet in 2022, replacing them with the F-35 stealth Joint Strike Fighter.
Out of 57 aircraft, it has agreed to sell 32 F-16s to Romania – no word on whether any of the remaining jets could be sent to Ukraine.
Ukrainian pilots have already proven their ability to master the art of flying F-16s in as little as four months. This compared to the 18 months originally estimated by U.S. and NATO experts.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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The U.S. has so many F-16s in storage at the boneyard in Tucson they are converting them into “full scale target drones” to be used in live fire exercises. These are serviceable aircraft declared surplus and are otherwise doomed to be smelted down into aluminum ingots. Ukraine is in dire need of F-16s to defend their skies. All the QF-4s has been shot down in missile training, so now they are converting F-16s into QF-16s. The Q designates the aircraft is a drone.
Joe Biden changed his mind? Does he even have one???