A bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin urging that the US should take a “hard look” at sending F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv.
“After speaking with US, Ukrainian, and foreign leaders working to support Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference last month, we believe the US needs to take a hard look at providing F-16 aircraft to Ukraine,” the senators said in the letter.
The letter was led by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and was also signed by Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Tim Kaine of (D-VA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Ted Budd (R-NC).
Other NATO countries are ready to send fighter jets to Ukraine, including Poland, which is willing to send its Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets.
Sending the advanced fighter jets to Ukraine would mark a significant escalation of military aid and would bring the US and Russia another step closer to a direct clash. In March 2022, NATO officials said if the Western powers provided Ukraine with such aircraft, Russia could perceive the move as the alliance directly entering the war.
President Biden and other administration officials have ruled out sending F-16s to Ukraine “for now,” although the US is laying the groundwork for eventually sending them. Two Ukrainian pilots have arrived in the US to have their skills assessed to see how long it would take to train them on the F-16 and other US aircraft, a step the senators welcomed as a “critical step in gauging” their readiness to fly the plane.
“Bipartisan?” War brings us all together… https://media1.giphy.com/media/xThuWpGwaGeXfPpM88/giphy.gif
Donna, It’s the only way to fly. Or crash and burn for that matter.
Didn’t somebody once say, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning? 😉
I remember when Tim Kaine pretended to be anti-war when Trump was president.
Jesus, I voted for one of the senators listed. In hindsight, I might as well voted for myself (There is nearly zero ballot access for third party candidates in my state anyways). Always lovely to see our bipartisan morons escalating wars to get us all killed and burning through trillions in deficit spending doing it.
Even by a ‘lesser of two evils’ way of thinking, there’s no good reason not to vote for the party you want, except in toss up states or districts.
Among other things, then a candidate – say a right liberal Democrat – can’t claim your vote ‘shows Democratic voters are centrist’…
…opening up a path for demands that they support popular programs (like restricting drug company profits, e.g.)…
…and, relatedly, shows if he or she ever legislates left, they’ll stay popular because – even if they lose some swing voters – they can gain support from voters to the left.
Send them planes they aren’t trained to fly? I guess they have to spend that $842 billion somehow. It’s like Brewsters’s Millions, gotta spend that money fast in order to get the real prize.
If Russia doesn’t have any problems with blowing up US HIMARS, I can’t see why they would have any problems blowing up US aircraft that are engaged in combat or support missions… without regard for the nationality of the person at the controls when killed.
That sounds about right 🙂