F-16s to arrive in Ukraine within months at best - USAF
The handover of American F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine will take several months in the best-case scenario best, U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said on Monday.
This was reported by CNN, Ukrinform saw.
The U.S. presidential administration has so far provided few details of the plan to equip the Ukrainian Air Force with US-made fighter jets or other fourth-generation warplanes after Joe Biden announced on Friday that Washington would support joint training of Ukrainian pilots.
“It’s been in the works, and there’s obviously been interest from Ukraine in getting that kind of capability,” Kendall told reporters.
He added that there are "a lot of open possibilities, including our partners."
Kendall said it would take at least "several months" before Ukraine would have the capability to operate the F-16s, and a number of details have to be worked out before the Ukraine’s Air Force will be able to fly Western jets in large numbers.
“We are not under any circumstances going to get F-16s or another Western fighter in significant numbers into the hands of the Ukrainian Air Force in something less than at least several months,” Kendall said.
But still, this is a relatively rapid timeline, since it normally takes more than two years to train a new American pilot on the aircraft. Even a refresher course for an F-16 pilot who has stepped away from flying the jet for a while can take up to five months.
“Ukraine is going to remain an independent nation,” said Kendall. "It’s going to need a full suite of military capabilities for its requirements, and so it’s time to start thinking longer term about what that military might look like and what it will include.”
As Ukrinform reported earlier, the United States sees as a priority the task to provide Ukraine with F-16 aircraft, the effort that will be implemented in cooperation with allies and partners in the coming months.
Yuriy Ihnat, the spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force Command, said last week that Ukraine could receive several dozen F-16 aircraft from international partners at the first stage.