Partners should give Ukraine long-range missiles such as Taurus for F-16s - German MP
The fighter jets Ukraine received a powerful contribution to Ukraine’s defenses but much will depend on the weapons that partners donate for the F-16s, which should include Germany’s Taurus missiles.
Bundestag lawmaker and defense policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter spoke of this in a comment to Ukrinform.
Kiesewetter, who had served as a colonel at the Bundeswehr General Staff before going to politics, noted that no individual weapons systems alone can become a game changer as success always depends on the interaction of forces, deployment options, timing, the amount of delivered materiel, etc.
F-16s are currently delivered in very small numbers, so they will most likely be used to close air defense gaps while defending against drones and missiles deep inside Ukraine, which can be done more cost-effectively with air-to-air missiles than more costly munitions for Iris-T or Patriot systems, the lawmaker noted. However, he added, achieving air superiority would require a much larger number of warplanes that could have been delivered much earlier.
"If F-16s are actually going to be used for direct air support of Ukrainian troops at the front, especially against glide bombs, their number should be much larger, which is why Ukraine asked for at least 128 aircraft," said the Bundestag member with the CDU. He also drew attention to the threat of Russian ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
Kiesewetter says the decisive factor in providing aid is what political goal partners seek to achieve with the help of the military equipment they donate: whether it is for Ukraine to “not lose,” that is, to only defend itself, or for it to prevail and be able to liberate its sovereign territory.
"With air defense or Air Force alone, Ukraine cannot prevail, it cannot liberate any territory, and given the losses that Ukraine is currently suffering on the ground due to our (partners’ - ed) hesitation, more territories will have to be liberated with massive casualties, again," said the ex-officer.
According to the lawmaker, Ukraine should act against "Russian numbers" with own quality and efficiency. To this, end it is critical that political restrictions on the opportunities for Ukraine’s defense forces be removed, so that they have permission to use Western weapons to hit military targets on Russian soil within the framework of international law.
It is also important to simplify supply routes, for example, by repairing equipment and running training directly in Ukraine.
In addition, it is necessary that Ukraine not only has the opportunity to strike in time the sites where Russian assets are deployed in a limited number of areas, but also to strike logistics facilities serving the Russian military, warehouses with war materiel, ammunition depots, drone factories, airfields and command posts located in Russia.
"This means that long-range precision capabilities such as Taurus and ATACMS with a 300km range remain extremely important," Kiesewetter emphasized.
Among the things that Ukraine also urgently needs, he mentioned main battle tanks, UAVs, including FPV drones, e-warfare tools, ammunition - not only for artillery, but also for anti-aircraft systems, as well as air defense systems such as Patriot. To protect critical infrastructure and the population, the number of Patriot systems deployed in Ukraine is insufficient, the politician recalled.
As reported, Ukraine recently received from Denmark the first batch of F16 fighter jets and expects to receive more by the end of the year.