The U.S. will support an effort with international partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16s, a senior administration official confirmed on Friday.
President Biden informed G-7 leaders at the group’s summit in Japan of the U.S.’ support for the months-long training effort, the official noted in a statement to Defense Daily
, which will take place in Europe and is set to begin in the coming weeks.
“As the training takes place over the coming months, our coalition of countries participating in this effort will decide when to actually provide jets, how many we will provide, and who will provide them,” the senior administration official said.
The move is a significant development in Ukraine’s ongoing request for combat aircraft to assist in its fight against Russia, while the Biden administration to date has not committed to providing platforms such as Lockheed Martin [LMT]-built F-16s as part of security assistance efforts.
“I welcome the historic decision of the United States and [President Biden] to support an international fighter jet coalition. This will greatly enhance our army in the sky. I count on discussing the practical implementation of this decision at the G7 summit in Hiroshima,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post on Friday.
A bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on March 14 seeking information on the factors around potentially providing F-16 fighter jets to assist Ukraine, citing the platform as a potential “game changer on the battlefield” (Defense Daily, May 18).
“We are now at a critical juncture in the conflict. And it’s imperative that the United States continue to carefully assess what capabilities we can provide to ensure Ukraine is able to defeat the Russians on the battlefield,” the lawmakers, led by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), wrote in the letter. “After speaking with U.S., Ukrainian, and foreign leaders working to support Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference last month, we believe the U.S. needs to take a hard look at providing F-16 aircraft to Ukraine. This would be a significant capability that could prove to be a game changer on the battlefield.”
The letter asks for specifics on how the U.S. would provide F-16s, how long it would take to train Ukrainian pilots and how the platform would bolster Kyiv’s capabilities in the ongoing conflict.