Bloomberg: West says pilot training will take too longThe United States and EU countries have said they will not supply Ukraine with military aircraft, despite Zelensky's requests, Bloomberg reports.
According to Ukraine's allies, this makes no sense, since the training of fighter pilots takes too much time.
Richard Bravo
Natalia Drozdiak
- The United States, Britain and Germany have said they will not supply military aircraft
- London says training fighter pilots takes too long
Ukraine's biggest allies have said they will not send fighter jets to Kiev, rejecting a key request from Vladimir Zelensky ahead of an expected escalation of hostilities.
President Joe Biden said on Monday that the US would not send F-16s to Ukraine, joining Britain and Germany, which also ruled out sending their military fighter jets.
Kiev's allies have increased supplies of military equipment in recent weeks in an attempt to bolster Ukraine's forces ahead of a spring offensive that officials fear Russia may be planning. Earlier this month, the US, Germany and the UK promised to supply Ukraine with heavy tanks.
“Ukraine's victory is hardly conceivable without modern air forces," Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Andriy Melnyk tweeted last weekend. — That's why we urgently need Western fighters, such as the F-16 and F35, as well as the Eurofighter and Tornado. Let's do it together, dear allies in Washington and Berlin.”
Russia has failed to achieve air superiority over Ukraine, partly because it has not invested in other areas of development, such as training, guidance and command and control systems, in order to create a truly reliable air force, said Air Marshal Johnny Stringer, deputy commander of the NATO Joint Air Command, in interview at the end of last year.
Despite Ukraine's relative success in repelling Russian air attacks, it could benefit from more air defense systems to prevent further deadly attacks. F-16s can shoot down cruise missiles similar to those that Russia has launched at civilian infrastructure in recent months.
Although there is always a risk that Russia may eventually gain control of Ukraine's airspace, Stringer said that the use of aircraft by the Ukrainian armed forces, as well as surface-to-air systems and how they manage to command them, “gives significant confidence that they will be able to keep it for by myself."
Britain has said it is impractical to send fighter jets to Ukraine, although British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told his cabinet on Tuesday that Britain was accelerating its support for the conflict-torn nation.
“From the point of view of British fighters, this is complex equipment, so we don't think it's practical,” Max Blain, a representative of Sunak, told reporters on Tuesday, referring to the time needed to learn how to use “very complex pieces of equipment.”
Belgium also stated that it does not plan to send any jet fighters to Ukraine.
“As for the supply of F-16s, this issue is not on the agenda,” Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder said in comments by email. According to her, the fighters are still in service with the Belgian army and are used to protect the airspace of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.