The White House confirmed on Thursday that the United States is considering sending Western fighter jets to Ukraine to fight Russia.
Asked if the “United States was prepared to consider” sending fighter jets to Ukraine, White House national security adviser Jon Finer said on Thursday at MSNBC that the United States would “discuss this very carefully.”
L’announcement on January 25 by President Joe Biden that the United States would send Abrams tanks to Ukraine was immediately met with requests from the media and the political establishment to send the F-multirole combat aircraft there as well. 16.
The F-16 is a fourth-generation supersonic fighter, capable of deploying the 1.2 megaton B83 nuclear bomb. It is a major component of NATO’s “nuclear sharing” system for tactical nuclear weapons deployed on the front lines in Europe.
Finer’s statement came the same day that Thomas Gassilloud, the chairman of the National Assembly’s National Defense Commission, said France would “leave all doors open” to send Western fighter jets into the war with Russia.
Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra, asked last week whether the country was considering sending fighter jets to Ukraine, said: “When it comes to things the Netherlands can provide, it there are no taboos”.
On Wednesday, ArmyINFORM, an information agency of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, reported that Ukrainian fighter pilots had already started training in the United States. “Our military pilots went to the United States, funds were allocated for the training of our pilots,” the publication wrote, citing an official from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
This publication reports that the type of aircraft that the United States will send to Ukraine has already been decided. “The type of aircraft likely to be supplied to Ukraine and the corresponding training conditions have already been determined. »
Those plans have been in the works for months, according to earlier statements by U.S. officials. In July, General Charles Q. Brown Jr., Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, told the Washington Post that “discussions were underway” on sending fighter jets to Ukraine.
When he was asked at the Aspen security conference that month, “Is it possible that the United States could sell or supply Ukraine with more American fighter jets? Brown had replied, “It will be something un-Russian, that’s what I can probably tell you.” »
Although these plans have been in the works for months – and include the announced training of Ukrainian pilots on American fighter jets – they have attracted increased public attention after the announcement that the United States will send Abrams tanks in Ukraine.
On Friday, leading Democratic and Republican senators asked the White House to send fourth-generation F-16 nuclear-capable fighter jets to Ukraine.
Democratic Senator from Rhode Island Sheldon Whitehouse, Republican Senator from Tennessee Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator from Connecticut Richard Blumenthal demandedin a statement that these jets are provided to “erode Russia’s ability to continue to fight in Ukraine”.
And to continue: “Although the tanks represent a tremendous reinforcement of the Ukrainian army, we urge the Biden government and our allies to send more long-range artillery, like the ATACMS, and fighter jets like the F -16”.
“The combination of tanks, fighter jets and ATACMS” would help Ukraine “to face the next Russian offensive and to attack both in the East and in the South”.
“Let’s give the Ukrainians everything they need to win now,” the statement concluded.
An intelligence analyst quoted by the Kyiv Post responded favorably to the senators’ call to send fighter jets and long-range missiles, stating that these weapons would offer “the possibility for Ukraine to destroy the railways and bridges leading to Ukraine from Russia.” Ukraine’s ability to destroy the Kerch Bridge would become a real possibility”.
The analyst praised the “abject fear this would project into the hearts of Russian combat commanders. Using Ukraine’s incredible human intelligence and America’s geospatial precision, every Russian commander in Ukraine would become a target.”
Plans to supply NATO fighter aircraft are already underway. THE Financial Times reported that Lockheed Martin had already increased production of F-16 fighters to compensate countries planning to transfer theirs to Ukraine. The company would “increase F-16 production at Greenville [Caroline du Sud] to get to the level where we can replace them quite effectively,” said Frank St. John, chief operating officer at Lockheed Martin.
“We will have F-16s,” Yuriy Sak, adviser to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, told CNBC on Thursday (January 26th).
These talks are taking place as Ukrainian troops are pouring into NATO countries for training. The first Ukrainian soldiers arrived in Germany on Thursday for training on Marder infantry fighting vehicles.
Sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine would involve much more than sending M1 Abrams tanks, deploying massive logistical infrastructure and supply lines to Ukraine from the countries of NATO. This would likely also include the deployment of US civilian contractors to help maintain these sophisticated systems.
Mentioning the deployment of American “companies” to Ukraine for the second time this week, CNN speculated that the deployment of F-16s would mean that “Western companies could be sent to Ukraine, putting them at risk of Russian attack.
The establishment of these massive logistical networks for the deployment of NATO weapons staffed by “civilian personnel” would massively intensify the pressure for military escalation, prompting calls for the creation of no-fly zones and the direct deployment of NATO troops in the war zone.
(Article published in English on January 28, 2023)