It was not envisaged that combat air power - in the form of fighter jets - could be provided in the timescale required to change the course of the conflict. However, the West has consistently advised that their primary focus was on helping Ukraine develop their own national combat air capability - ready for post-conflict security. So now that Denmark and Holland have agreed to supply F-16s, will other nations follow suit?į-16s are complex and expensive assets, and it will be interesting to see how they get employed in the conflict, and whether they prove effective. The Ukrainian F-16s will be a prime target for the Russians - so they will have to be used carefully, and only where their advantage can be exploited. The Russian Air Force will probably relish the opportunity to send their most modern fighters up against the Ukrainian F-16s, and the Russians will have the benefit of seasoned pilots well acquainted with their jets and combat mission systems - skills that take years to master. Similar to the US, both the UK and France haven't ruled out the possibility of sending fighter jets to Ukraine in the future, but certain conversations and conditions would have to be met first.
"Mr Putin has convinced us that we need to fear him widening the war using nuclear weapons." "We are very slow at getting them things we have already promised them. "We have been deterred from getting aircraft to them, we are still deterred from getting ballistic missiles to them. "Mr Putin's war of intimidation, his war of words in an attempt to deter the West from taking the actions it needs to take, has succeeded wildly," he told Sky News. General Philip Breedlove, former supreme allied commander for Europe said he thinks it is because the West has been deterred by Vladimir Putin. Ukraine has actively sought F-16 jets to help counter Russian air superiority for months.Īnd despite giving approval for the Netherlands and Denmark to send the aircraft, the US has said it will not send its own F-16s to Ukraine.
0 kommentar(er)
