Denmark and Netherlands to lead F-16 training for Ukrainians

Denmark and the Netherlands will lead the development of F-16 training for the Ukrainians in the coming weeks, according to Defense Minister Lloyd Austin.

Austin made the announcement about the training Thursday at a news conference after a virtual meeting of Ukraine’s defense coordination group. The group of about 50 nations included a session on planning long-term training for the Ukrainians on fourth-generation aircraft such as the F-16.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, who was with Austin, said it would take “a long time” to develop the Ukrainian air force to the scope and scale necessary to match Russia’s thousands of Fourth and Fifth. Generation of aircraft.

Countries such as Norway, Belgium, Portugal and Poland have already offered to contribute to the training, Austin said, but did not say who would provide the advanced fighter jets.

The fighter jets would not need to come from the United States, but any country that wanted to transfer a stockpile of American-made F-16s to Ukraine would need permission from the U.S. government.

Officials in Ukraine have been requesting F-16s since the war began, but as has been the case with other requests, U.S. officials said no before arriving. Milley said the U.S. made a cost-effective choice to commit other equipment, such as ground-based air defense systems, before the F-16s.

He said the cost of just 10 F-16s and maintaining them is about $2 billion.

“If you did that — just the F-16 — you wouldn’t have tanks, you wouldn’t have Bradleys, you wouldn’t have anti-armor weapons, you wouldn’t have anything else. You’d spend it all. Your Money only on it,” Millie said. “It’s a cost-risk-benefit analysis that leads you to these separate, incremental packages that go forward.”

To help with the cost, Austin said the countries plan to set up a fund so that countries that can’t provide F-16s or chip in for maintenance and sustainment training can still contribute to the effort. can contribute.