On Sunday, Denmark and the Netherlands became the first countries to pledge they will provide Ukraine with US-made F-16 fighter jets following formal US approval of the transfer.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Denmark will “hopefully” provide Ukraine with 19 jets over the next few years, with the final deliveries being made in 2025. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte noted that the Netherlands has 42 F-16s but did not specify how many will head to Ukraine.
“Today we can announce that the Netherlands and Denmark commit to the transfer of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine and the Ukrainian Air Force, including cooperation with the United States and other partners once the conditions for such a transfer have been met,” Rutte said at a press conference while hosting Zelensky in the Netherlands.
Zelensky was in Denmark on Monday and thanked the nation’s parliament for the future delivery of F-16s.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken provided the formal approval for the transfer in a letter to the Netherlands and Denmark last week. The letter said the F-16s can be sent when the first Ukrainian pilots complete their training, which isn’t expected to happen until next summer.
The first batch of Ukrainian pilots have started training, which involves four months of English classes and then six months of combat training. According to The Washington Post, the first class only consists of six Ukrainian pilots.
President Biden first gave the green light for European countries to train and arm Ukraine with F-16s in May, but the plan took months to get off the ground. Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration with the delay. Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny has said F-16s would help the counteroffensive, although US officials privately believe the jets wouldn’t make much of a difference in the current fight due to Russia’s extensive air defenses.
The provision of F-16s to Ukraine marks a significant escalation of US and NATO support for Ukraine and demonstrate’s how the Western alliance is expecting to support the war for the long term. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has noted that F-16s are capable of carrying nuclear weapons and has said Moscow will view the jets as a nuclear threat.
In the early days of the war, NATO ruled out providing Ukraine with Soviet-made fighter jets over fears that Moscow would perceive the move as NATO directly entering the war. But earlier this year, Poland and Slovakia took the step of sending Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets.
Theater. Of course a dozen or several dozen fighters, delivered some time in the future, aren’t going to make any difference in the course of this war.
The escalation of provocations will eventually end up with big mushrooms in Europe, and if we are unlucky, in America and Asia too. As once Chairman Mao said: “It is a time to dig holes and store grain”.
The only escalation of provocation was when your dumbass Putin invaded and stole land from Ukraine.
Down-voted for continuous mindless insults not even disguised as arguments.
“Netherlands, Denmark Pledge to Provide Ukraine With F-16s Denmark says it hopes to provide 19 jets, and it’s unclear how many the Netherlands will provide”
⚡️ It will take Ukrainian pilots up to five years to master American F-16 fighters at a sufficient level.
This
opinion was expressed by the commander of the US Air Force in Europe
and Africa, James Hecker, according to Air & Space Forces.
“To
learn how to fly the F-16, it won’t happen overnight. You can get the
hang of some weapon systems fairly quickly. But the likes of the F-16s
take time to build… a couple of squadrons of F-16s and have them ready
enough and their craftsmanship high enough. I mean it could be four or
five years from now,” Hecker said.
According to him, “Ukraine sends young pilots with practically zero flying time to learn how to fly the F-16.”
Recall that Denmark and the Netherlands promised Ukraine the F-16 only after sufficient pilot training.
Only 6 pilots will train at a time with 4 months of English in London to begin. The second 6 will begin training only 6 months after the first 6 begin training.
Someone blew some very thick smoke up Zelenskyys keister to think, this will make any difference. They are running out of trained cannon fodders, now they look to lose pilots. Unbelievable.
I think it’s more Machiavellian than that. The western press has built Zelensky up to be such a “heroic figure” that he wields undue influence over politicians who should know better; none of them have the courage, in an election cycle, to tell him to go pound salt. So he demands, and demands, and demands, and the politicians will do anything to make him stop and go demand stuff from someone else. I have a cynical suspicion that the best way to make him go away is to make a “small” but “secret” donation to his off shore bank accounts; and then he’ll go away and strong arm someone else.
Virtually immediately after getting the promise of “F-16s” he was in Sweden, pressuring them for Gripens. Because sure, Ukraine has the resources to train pilots and maintenance crews and logistics systems to handle a mixed air fleet.
Better to just pay him off and send him away to bother someone else.
Won’t work giving him a “small” donation when he’s already worth billions according to reports.
Not to mention what he undoubtedly has hanging over Biden and his son in terms of blackmail material over Burisma.
My thoughts exactly. Ain’t gonna be any more men to conscript next summer.
UA has deployed its last reserve battalion, after the “counter-offensive” is already lost.. This should signal that the conflict is nearing an end..
Glad they could take time from burning holy books to help out the Ukrainian Nazis…
Would you buy a used F-16 from these clowns?
NO! The last F16 I bought had to be jump started every single time I wanted to bomb some 3rd World country.
😂
F16 is old but it is better than Fail35. I’d bet even Vietnam era fighter jet can outperform Fail35. The JSF program was a complete disaster. A tax-payer robbery and money laundering op between Lox-Heed and the Pentagon. But as far as I understand, the Pentagon isn’t buying much of that trash and corporate swine is pushing it to all Anglo-American vassal states. US still have F22 that isn’t for export. It’s a little dated but not a bad fighter jet.
Absolutely, great maintenance record and they take good care of their military equipment. Unlike Russia, zero corruption.
Stick to buying the Russian sh!t equipment.
You need to spend less time reading comic books and watching animated cartoons.
Your style is that of a juvenile, dedicated solely to ejaculating adolescent one-liners aimed at annoying adults who are trying to having an actual conversation. Your fixation on tidbits that anyone who looks at google can come up with, shows that you have no real understanding of or concern for what is at stake in Europe or elsewhere for that matter.
No, my style is that I support the oppressed, unlike you who support emperor Putin and hate the US.
I don’t have to look at google. I served for 24 years with multi combat tours and still serving in other capacities, you douche.
What are you doing? Typing from a basement?
Multi-combat tours for 24 years? If you saw military action you should be advocating with Mark Milley rather than doing a Donald Duck imitation by quacking your nonsense about Putin lovers. Twenty four years can be spent behind a desk, so I’ll pass on your credentials, and point out – once again – asserting quantitative “facts” should be backed up with citations, which you never do.
You’re too old to grow up, so you do – in this one instance – have my sympathies.
My military service is none of your business, Arschlock.
I don’t need to prove myself to anybody.
And I don’t have to follow anybody.
I support Ukraine to fight for its freedom and independence.
And I don’t have to present any facts to you or anybody. Even when I do, I get discredited so you and your team of Putin lovers can go f yourselves.
And stop pretending your sh!t don’t stink. You don’t present anything but support for Russia and hate for the West and US.
So go eat a bag.
Name a fact you’ve supported with Citations. I’ll wait.
By the way, Google doesn’t constitute a source for Citations. Rather, I’m speaking about reportage coming from multiple sources in the position to be reporting accurately, ie, verifiably.
You just pronounce facts based only on your word. If you’re going to state the positions or conditions associated with say, the war in Ukraine, show where your statements are corroborated by reputable sources.
Believe it or not, the regulars here read multiple sources from all available sides on current events and make statements based on that reading, as opposed to just asserting their points of view.
You could decide to join the discussion instead of insulting people whom you don’t know, by giving people the reasons you’ve come to the views you hold. Otherwise, it looks a lot like you would just rather play the role of bomb thrower.
East Germans are aghast at what Germany has become, lets rebuild the wall. Moscow may insist on this once NATO capitulates.
Excellent post! LOL
Oh, no! The EAST Germans?!? Maybe they’ll get a score of 10.0 in the pairs figure skating!
So it is somebody else to provide the F-16s to a country with nobody to fly them.. This rationale might make sense to somebody else..
No …. it makes sense to no one and that is why they are doing it. Up is down inside the Empire Of Lies.
They got fooled…! In hope of receiving F-35 jets from US…?! Keep waiting for another decade…!
Whoops again, tankies! Already got ’em!
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2023/03/08/f35s-operate-denmark/?expand_article=1
https://news.yahoo.com/dutch-f-35s-intercept-three-235737700.html
(BTW, ‘cuz I know you tankies are fact-challenged: “Dutch” is the Netherlands.)
That’ll show him, am I right? Odd that you would think that is a good thing on a site called antiwar.
YOU, I believe, are antiwar. These other MFers? C’mon! You have to be able to see that they just despise America’s involvement anywhere and for any reason and dismiss Russian aggression.
If wars is antiwar, I’m the Pope.
He is only anti US wars.
He supports Russia’s invasion and annexation of Ukraine. He is on record stating that. You can’t spin that in favor of antiwar.
I don’t recall wars ever being “on record” as supporting Russia’s invasion/annexation. Care to point to said “record?”
I’m against war. I don’t need you to believe that. I was for the Vietnam war before I was against it. My dad was a WW2 vet and he thought, like you, the US could do no wrong. I joined the army in 1973 and was stationed at Ft Lewis Wa. where a lot of Vietnam Vets were sent to do the rest of their hitch. After listening to their horrifying stories and seeing how fucking old they looked even though they were barely in their 20’s, I saw the light. Maybe someday you will too. But feel free to list the wars where our national security was even remotely threatened.
There are plenty of others who aren’t cheerleading Russia. You, like Don, lump everyone together.
No. I think we call them out and you guys get caught up in it. 2D comments sections make it hard to single out who you’re targeting and then it’s a dog-pile. I’ll do my best in the future to address the comment I’m targeting but I can’t guarantee total success.
Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny has said F-16s would help the counteroffensive, although US officials privately believe the jets wouldn’t make much of a difference in the current fight due to Russia’s extensive air defenses.
Yes, privately. They also said that they wouldn’t do a counteroffensive without air superiority. So, in other words, they didn’t think your counteroffensive would be successful without air superiority and they don’t think you can achieve air superiority with the F-16’s because of Russia’s air defense. Hello, is anyone home? You’re being USED.
They’ve been fighting without air superiority since the beginning which Russia never gained either despite their massive numbers and out of this world advanced technology.
And Ukraine has been being USED since the beginning. But this is about the counteroffensive and the US admitting that the US wouldn’t do a counteroffensive if the US didn’t have air superiority nor did they think that Ukraine could achieve air superiority with the F-16’s. But for some reason you like ignoring those glaring admissions. Fight on Ukraine is your mantra regardless of if they can be successful.
And they’ll fight no matter what because they are fighting for their existence and freedom. Something Putin will never allow them to have if they surrender or “negotiate.”
Nobody is looking for the F-16 to establish air superiority. The F-16 is multirole and can still perform many tasks in support of ground troops (i.e. close air support, suppression of air defenses, take out attacking helicopters etc). Especially if equipped with the right weaponry, avionics, and sensors. With the right missile, an F-16 can take out one of those out of this world Russian fighters before the Russian fighters even knows is there. And they can do all that without even exposing themselves to enemy air defenses. They are not game changers, they are one more capability that will contribute to the war efforts.
But you guys don’t want any of that, you want Ukraine to get crushed so you can have your victory.
And they’ll fight no matter what because they are fighting for their existence and freedom. Something Putin will never allow them to have if they surrender or “negotiate.”
What freedom? The kind they had preinvasion? Even the corruption charts people use to say Russia is more corrupt than Ukraine, still shows Ukraine to be very corrupt. So please stop with the Putin fear mongering. After all, you were a fan up until a mere 9 years ago.
But you guys don’t want any of that, you want Ukraine to get crushed so you can have your victory.
Damn man, it’s the complete opposite. We guys want Ukrainian’s and Ukraine to stop being used as fodder. We post things that proves the US doesn’t give two shits about the people of Ukraine and you post some jingoistic nonsense of them fighting for the preservation of some nonexistent democracy.
Good summary, better than I’ve been struggling to make.
You know I”m right and that bothers you.
Hey, you support the Russian invasion and annexation of Ukraine… so stop pretending you aren’t a Putin lover.
No, you are not right. That I do know. You can’t possibly ignore what comes out of Washington but yet you steadfastly refuse to acknowledge their words. And you prove my “when in doubt, call someone a Putin lover” point over and over again. Not just with me but with multiple others who comment here. As soon as someone posts something you can’t refute, it’s right back to the same nonsense. And you did it again here. But remember Don, it was you who openly admitted that you respected Putin. And this was well after 2008 and Georgia.
Bring on the violins. For myself, the people who deserve the punishment are in the WH and State Department. In the present disaster, both Russia and Ukraine are pawns, and for about the same time period as well.
The United States has shown itself to be the preeminent global source of instability and violence for over 100 years with the sole exceptions of WWI and WWII, where the Europeans had their field days.
Just for chuckles, point out to me the countries the USSR invaded between 1917 and 19191 (Stalin’s overrunning of eastern Europe doesn’t count as it was agreed to by Churchill and Roosevelt).
Then use your vast military experience to point out the number of countries invaded by the US, the number of governments overthrown by the US, and the number of countries occupied by the US.
I don’t need to do any of that. Putin invaded and annexed Ukraine and is killing Ukrainians for more control and power so
I support Ukraine to not let the bastard take their country. And you hate me for that.
You are just another wars; hate US and support Putin so take your BS argument to someone else.
When in doubt revert back to the Putin claim. So says the man who actually supported Putin until as recently as 2014. And hating the US means pointing out the US openly admitting that Ukrainian lives aren’t all that important.
I don’t hate you. How could I? I don’t know you. Do you hate people here? On what basis could you?
Ok, we’re all done for now. You have no real interest in exchanging views.
Ukraine lacks the infrastructure necessary for hosting numbers of F-16s – notably, airfields.
when construction begins on suitable airfields they will simply be destroyed.
https://tass.com/politics/1663093
Whoops! More bulls**t from the tankies!
https://news.yahoo.com/f-16s-handle-ukrainian-airfields-113400765.html
Have you ever heard the word, expeditionary? Have you ever heard about Air Defenses?
EDIT: dude, really? TASS is your source? Lol
Insults shouldn’t count as arguments, so you have nothing.
Just give it to them. You think Victoria Nuland cares whether your “cannon fodders” are trained, can speak English, or not!? Untrained and ready to die are the best qualities in “cannon fodders!” Are you trying to spoil the party? (Terrible Sarcasm)
But …. but …. nothing can be greater than to die in service to the Empire Of Lies.
LOL
First: DRINK!
Second: All you tankies (and the Russians for that matter) are getting very worked up over these “useless” fighter jets and their untrained crews. Y’all are saying it’ll even be nuclear war over them.
Maybe they’re pretty good aircraft? Gee, I don’t know…
Oh, not terrible NA… your sarcasm speaks the truth!
Nuland, Nuland, Nuland!!!!
Ultimately, the State is ALWAYS the enemy of Liberty & Natural Rights. When the State grows like a malignant cancer, Collectivism arises with its mob masters followed by misery, poverty, the gulag, and finally, genocide.
Our Enemy, The State:https://famguardian.org/Publications/OurEnemyTheState/OurEnemyTheState-byAlbertJKnock.pdf
6 pilots, to be ready to go to war in 10 months, in what will no doubt be older stripped down F-16’s nearing the end of their service life (if not having already exceeded it). And this is supposed to impact the conflict… how? The Ukraine will be lucky if it’s an intact nation in 10 months’ time, much less a nation capable of waging a modern war. Those half-dozen pilots will be lucky if they survive more than a few days against seasoned Russian pilots, not to mention the formidable anti-aircraft systems that will be arrayed against them. It might be worthwhile to ask the crews of the world-class Leopard 2 tanks how all of their training and machines worked out for them in combat. I hope none of the 6 pilots are married, because their best play- assuming they even get their own plane- is to strap in and fly that thing as far away from the Ukraine as they can go.
Soooo…. if these F16s aren’t going to change anything, why are you writing about it. Are you worried? Let it go, man. It’s just a few F16s.
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/ukraine-is-more-than-wounded/
Read this article and let me know what you think about the article. It’s not long, and shouldn’t overly tax your self-described abilities…
added: I’m not associated with the institute so it’s not dangerous.
NATO has already lost; 462 Aircraft, 246 helicopters, 5952 UAV’s, 431 Anti Aircraft systems, 11445 tanks inc. APC’s, 1144 multiple rocket launchers, 5996 rocket launchers and 12372 military automotive equipment. Approx. $1 Trillion of NATO hardware.
The AFU committed its last reserve brigade with western equipment to its disastrous so called counter-offensive. It will get ground up just like the forces it is replacing. Approx. $1 trillion of NATO support. Keep in mind Ukraine was the biggest and most equipped NATO army in Europe and Russia just mauled them.