CNN
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The Biden administration has signaled to European allies in recent weeks that the US would allow them to export F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, sources familiar with the discussions said, as the White House comes under increasing pressure from members from Congress and allies to help. Ukraine buys planes amid intensified Russian airstrikes.
Administration officials are not aware, however, of any formal requests from any allies to export F-16s, and State Department officials who would normally be tasked with the paperwork to approve such third-party transfers they have not been told to get to work, according to officials. said
A handful of European countries have a supply of US-made F-16s, including the Netherlands, which has indicated a willingness to export some of them to Ukraine. But the US would have to approve such a third-party transfer because of the aircraft’s sensitive American technology.
Although the US is reluctant to send any of its own F-16s to Kiev, US officials told CNN that the administration is prepared to approve the export of the planes to Ukraine if that is what the allies decide to do with their supply.
National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby declined to comment specifically on the possibility of the U.S. sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, but said broadly that the U.S. has looked ahead on the “future capabilities and needs”. The F-16s are “not on the agenda” at the G7, he said, although the aircraft could certainly appear on the sidelines of the summit.
US lawmakers and congressional staff have joined the F-16 lobbying campaign, urging the administration to provide the planes so Ukraine can establish control of its skies.
“As a bipartisan group of lawmakers, we believe the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine is essential to provide Kiev with the air support capability needed to fully defend its nation against unprovoked, illegal and brutal Russia, and to make the territorial gains necessary to take back their country,” a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers wrote Wednesday in a letter to President Joe Biden obtained by CNN.
The issue is expected to be a topic of discussion at the next NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July, officials said.
Another open question is where the Ukrainian pilots would train in these F-16s. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said earlier this week that the UK and the Netherlands were looking to form an “international coalition” not only to acquire the planes for Ukraine, but also to train Ukrainian pilots in fourth generation fighters, which are more important. advanced than the Ukrainian fighter fleet.
In March, the US hosted two Ukrainian pilots at a military base in Tucson, Arizona to assess their skills using flight simulators and to assess how long they would need to learn to fly various US military aircraft, including the F-16 . But the U.S. has no plans now to expand that training, a defense official told CNN, even though Congress set aside money in the 2023 budget for such training.
US allies with F-16s could conduct training for Ukrainian fighter pilots, or the plane’s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, could conduct training as a private contractor. But the defense official said such a deal would likely need some level of US involvement, even if it does not require an official US signature like the transfer of US arms overseas.
Senior Ukrainian officials have stepped up their public lobbying campaign for the US-made F-16s in recent months, arguing that they are urgently needed to defend against Russian missile and drone attacks.
Russia launched an “unprecedented” series of missile attacks on Kiev on Thursday morning, a Ukrainian official said, just days after Russia launched a barrage of six hypersonic missiles near the capital aimed at destroying systems air defense Patriot of Ukraine.
“A series of airstrikes in Kyiv, unprecedented in their power, intensity and variety, continue,” said Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv’s civil and military administration.
Without the planes, Ukraine must improvise, officials say. Defense officials and congressional staff told CNN that Ukrainian troops have used the U.S.-made Patriot air defense system in recent weeks to shoot down at least one distant Russian fighter jet. Russian aircraft have largely stayed behind Russian defensive lines, making it difficult for Ukraine to target shorter-range systems such as NASAMs.
The Russian planes targeted by the Patriot were on a strike to fire missiles at Ukrainian targets, US officials said, something Russia has been doing for the past year to maximize civilian casualties.
The officials said the Ukrainians were responsible for making their own firing decisions once the West provided the Patriot systems, noting that it was up to the Ukrainians when and how to engage the Patriots to protect their town
Sophisticated fighter jets would make it easier for Ukraine to target Russian planes, some congressional staffers argue, without having to spend expensive Patriot munitions that were made to intercept ballistic missiles.
However, some US officials are skeptical of this argument, noting that Russia has extensive anti-aircraft systems that could easily shoot down the F-16s. Ukraine has not conducted many air missions with the fighter jets it already has, precisely for this reason, officials said.
Still, Kiev believes that with enough public pressure, Ukrainians can finally secure weapons systems that were once considered a red line by the West. HIMARS, battle tanks, and the Patriot battery were considered off-limits; all are now in the country or heading there soon.
Although the UK does not have any F-16s of its own, the British government appears to have turned a corner on the matter in recent months. In January, a British government spokesman told reporters that the UK believes the planes “are extremely sophisticated and take months to learn to fly”. Given this, we believe it is impractical to send these aircraft to Ukraine.”
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kiev and London were “actively advancing” a plan to acquire them.
“We need F-16s,” said Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office. “And I am grateful to our allies for their decision to work in this direction, including the training of our pilots.”
