While the delivery of heavy tanks to Ukraine has only just been confirmed by the West, the possibility of sending fighter jets has already been raised by a number of Ukrainians, Americans and Europeans. At the same time, Kyiv has reissued another of its recurring demands: the deployment of long-range missiles. “Negotiations are taking place at an accelerated pace,” assured on Saturday, January 27, Advisor to the President of Ukraine Mykhaïlo Podoliak during an interview with the Ukrainian TV channel Freedom.
To date, the United States has always refused to provide either aircraft or long-range surface-to-surface missiles, known as ATACMS, with a range of up to 300 km. Red lines were enacted over fears that Kyiv would use this equipment to push the offensive into Russian territory. But the Ukrainians continue to put pressure on their allies, considering that one of the only ways to weaken the Moscow army is to successfully destroy its artillery stocks, of which Podoliak says there would be a hundred in occupied Crimea.
However, on January 25, for the first time, several senior American officials appeared ready to resume discussion on these issues. The deployment of fighter jets is being discussed “very carefully,” White House Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer told US broadcaster MSNBC. The armaments company Lockheed Martin wants to “increase F-16 production in Greenville [Caroline du Sud] to be able to respond very satisfactorily to the needs of the countries that would choose to carry out third-party transfers to contribute to the current conflict,” Frank St. John, operations manager of the American company, told the Financial Times on the same day.
Convince the United States
F-16s are the most desirable aircraft in Kyiv today. These devices of the so-called “fourth generation” have the advantage that they are versatile and relatively inexpensive. “It’s a small aircraft that has been constantly modernized since it entered service and that can accomplish all missions at a lower cost, a bit like the Mirage 2000,” explains Jean-Christophe Noël, a former fighter pilot now a research associate at the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) and Editor-in-Chief of Air Force magazine Vortex.
Like the Leopard tank, which Berlin has exported to many European countries, the F-16 has been one of the best-selling American fighter jets abroad in recent years. In Europe, for example, there is an “F-16 Club” from nine countries with this type of aircraft, and there is a “Leopard Club” from 14 countries for the Rheinmetall tank. Kiev’s interest in these planes is the same as in tanks: targeting the abundant equipment available to really change the deal. But the difficulty is always the same: convincing the country of manufacture – this time the United States – to authorize the re-export of this type of weapon.
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