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Wallace Says NATO Allies Could Get RAF Jets in Return for Gifting MiGs to Kiev
Wallace Says NATO Allies Could Get RAF Jets in Return for Gifting MiGs to Kiev
Sputnik International
While Downing Street has pledged to train Ukrainian pilots on Royal Air Force fighters, it insists it will not supply any before the end of the conflict with Russia. But Poland and Slovakia have offered Soviet combat jets.
2023-02-24T17:12+0000
2023-02-24T17:12+0000
2023-05-28T15:26+0000
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Britain's defence secretary has said NATO allies could get RAF jets to "backfill" supplies of Soviet-made fighters to Ukraine.Ben Wallace reiterated in a TV interview on Friday that supplying any of the Royal Air Force's roughly 100 operational Eurofighter Typhoon multi-role aircraft directly to Kiev during its conflict with Russia would mean sending hundreds of maintenance personnel along with them.The defence secretary and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have insisted that the British armed forces will not get directly involved in fighting, and that the UK will not supply any of the jets it has promised to train Ukrainian pilots on until the conflict is over."Gifting a fighter jet comes with thousands of people — engineers, pilots, training - the more complicated the platforms the greater the tail," Wallace said. "The West is not going to be putting troops into Ukraine in those scales — if you put Typhoons in you'd have to send 200 RAF people and we're not going to do that, we've said that quite clearly."But he suggested the UK could use its small and already-committed force of fighters to "backfill" for other countries if they gave up their own combat aircraft for the sake of Kiev's Western-backed war effort.He added that the "quick way that Ukraine can benefit from fighter jets is for those countries in Europe that have Russian Soviet fighter jets — MiG 29s or Su-24s — if they wish to donate we can use our fighter jets to backfill and provide security for them as a result."The minister claimed the RAF's Typhoons were "configured to fight in a NATO way, where of course Ukraine isn't."Poland, one of the staunchest supporters of the Kiev regime, currently has a fleet of 29 Mikoyan MiG-29 air superiority fighters, six of which are two-seat conversion trainers, which it is gradually replacing with US-built F-16s — an older design.Slovakia has pledged all 11 of its MiG-29s to Ukraine in mid-2022, but has yet to deliver them following a lengthy overhaul.No NATO air force operates the Sukhoi Su-24 strike jets flown by Russia, Belarus and Ukraine — which may already have lost its entire stock of serviceable aircraft.Bulgaria has seven Su-25 close support jets — although it is widely speculated that they were secretly transferred to Ukraine in 2022 — and 11 MiG-29s. Romania has 23 older MiG-21s, although Ukrainian have not flown that type since independence in 1991.Meanwhile former PM Boris Johnson, who has floated himself as a candidate to replace Jens Stoltenberg as NATO secretary-general, reiterated his call for Britain to arm Ukraine with jet fighters to "break the ice" and encourage other countries to follow suit.
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Wallace Says NATO Allies Could Get RAF Jets in Return for Gifting MiGs to Kiev
17:12 GMT 24.02.2023 (Updated: 15:26 GMT 28.05.2023) While Downing Street has pledged to train Ukrainian pilots on Royal Air Force fighters, it insists it will not supply any before the end of the conflict with Russia. But Poland Slovakia have previously offered Soviet combat jets to Kiev.
Britain's defence secretary has said NATO allies could get RAF jets to "backfill" supplies of Soviet-made fighters to Ukraine.
Ben Wallace reiterated in a TV interview on Friday that supplying any of the Royal Air Force's roughly 100 operational Eurofighter Typhoon multi-role aircraft directly to Kiev during its conflict with Russia would mean sending hundreds of maintenance personnel along with them.
The defence secretary and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have insisted that the British armed forces will not get directly involved in fighting, and that the UK will not supply any of the jets it has promised to train Ukrainian pilots on until the
conflict is over."Gifting a fighter jet comes with thousands of people — engineers, pilots, training - the more complicated the platforms the greater the tail," Wallace said. "The West is not going to be putting troops into Ukraine in those scales — if you put Typhoons in you'd have to send 200 RAF people and we're not going to do that, we've said that quite clearly."
But he suggested the UK could use its
small and already-committed force of fighters to "backfill" for other countries if they gave up their own combat aircraft for the sake of Kiev's Western-backed war effort.
"But what we have offered is that if a country wants to gift a Russian or a Soviet model like a MiG 29 — and there are some countries in NATO who have them — then Britain will do its best to backfill with our own jets or indeed provide some form of air policing to cover their loss of capability," Wallace said.
He added that the "quick way that Ukraine can benefit from fighter jets is for those countries in Europe that have Russian Soviet fighter jets — MiG 29s or Su-24s — if they wish to donate we can use our fighter jets to backfill and provide security for them as a result."
The minister claimed the RAF's Typhoons were "configured to fight in a NATO way, where of course Ukraine isn't."
23 February 2023, 18:55 GMT
Poland, one of the staunchest supporters of the Kiev regime, currently has a fleet of 29 Mikoyan MiG-29 air superiority fighters, six of which are two-seat conversion trainers, which it is gradually replacing with US-built F-16s — an older design.
Slovakia has pledged all 11 of its MiG-29s to Ukraine in mid-2022, but has yet to deliver them following a lengthy overhaul.
No NATO air force operates the Sukhoi Su-24 strike jets flown by Russia, Belarus and Ukraine — which may already have lost its entire stock of serviceable aircraft.
Bulgaria has seven Su-25 close support jets — although it is widely speculated that they were secretly transferred to Ukraine in 2022 — and 11 MiG-29s. Romania has 23 older MiG-21s, although Ukrainian have not flown that type since independence in 1991.
Meanwhile former PM Boris Johnson, who has floated himself as a candidate to replace Jens Stoltenberg as NATO secretary-general, reiterated
his call for Britain to arm Ukraine with jet fighters to "break the ice" and encourage other countries to follow suit.
