The West may be ready to deliver F-16 fighter jets to Kiev because most Western countries are currently switching to more sophisticated F-35 warplanes, Tom Burbage, former general manager of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, has told a US magazine.
He argued that with powerhouse militaries across the globe moving towards the fifth-generation F-35s, "that does free up the F-16" for air forces such as Ukraine's.
According to Burbage, the beginning of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine prodded “many nations to turn to the F-35 in a rapidly-changing security environment.” At the same time, he warned that it would take years to phase in the F-35s for countries now opting for the US fifth generation fighters.
The comments come after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that his country is “moving rapidly” to get the F-16s to Ukraine. “We are going to push as fast as possible,” Sullivan told a security forum in Aspen, Colorado.
This followed US Security Council spokesman John Kirby telling reporters on Friday that the F-16s will arrive in Ukraine “probably towards the end of the year.” He, however, did not say which country's stocks these warplanes would come from. Additionally, Kirby cautioned that “it’s not our assessment that the F-16s alone would be enough to turn the tide here [in Ukraine].”
He was echoed by US Lieutenant General Douglas Sims, the Director of Operations of the Joint Staff who told a Pentagon briefing earlier this month that the conditions for using the F-16s in Ukraine are "probably not ideal" at the moment, admitting that Moscow's forces "still possess some air defense capability."
"The number of the F-16s that would be provided may not be perfect for what's going on right now [in Ukraine]," the general added.
The same tone was struck by General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told reporters that it will take "years to train the pilots, years to do the maintenance and sustainment, years to generate that degree of financial support to do that," an apparent nod to the F-16s.
Sullivan, in turn, said in a separate statement last week that US President Joe Biden "has given a green light and we will allow, permit, support, facilitate and in fact provide the necessary tools for Ukrainians to begin being trained on F-16s, as soon as the Europeans are prepared.”
A Netherlands' Air Force F-16 jetfighter takes part in the NATO exercise as part of the NATO Air Policing mission, in Alliance members’ sovereign airspace on July 4, 2023
© AFP 2023 / JOHN THYS
This was preceded by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin saying that the Netherlands and Denmark were making "progress on a cohesive training plan," adding that they were working on helping "some very eager Ukrainian pilots learn to fly the fourth-generation aircraft."
Denmark’s Defense Ministry, for its part, announced last week that the kingdom, plus Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the UK and Sweden are theoretically ready to train Ukrainian pilots to operate the F-16s, and that training could start as early as in August.
Also this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that the US and its allies sending the F-16s to Kiev add to a threat of the use of nuclear weapons.
“An example of extremely dangerous developments is the US’ plans to deliver the F-16 fighter jets to the Kiev regime. We have informed the nuclear powers such as the US, the UK and France that Russia cannot ignore the ability of these aircraft to carry nuclear weapons. No assurances will help here,” Lavrov told Russian media.
He added that “Russian servicemen will not figure out whether each particular aircraft of this type is equipped to carry nuclear weapons or not. The very fact of the Ukrainian Armed Forces possessing the [F-16] fighters will be viewed by Russia as a threat from Western countries in the nuclear sphere.”
F-35's Troubles
Last month, US media reported that the Pentagon will not accept any more new F-35 fighters from the aircraft's main contractor Lockheed Martin until major problems with new technology hardware upgrades are resolved, with delays expected to last at least into next year.
According to the media, the Pentagon's freeze on accepting any more new aircraft equipped with the Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) hardware will begin as of this month.
The decision reportedly means that Lockheed Martin may have to store dozens of the planes at its main factory in Fort Worth, Texas, for most of 2023 and possibly as long as until spring 2024.
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II remains the most expensive weapon in history, with lifetime operations and sustainment costing a whopping $1.3 trillion. About twenty years after its introduction, though, the plane has continued to plague operators with a host of problems, including cabin overpressurization, night vision troubles, software bugs, and corrosion.