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Milley explains why the West delayed decision on F-16s for Ukraine

Thursday, 25 May 2023, 20:20
Milley explains why the West delayed decision on F-16s for Ukraine

General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, said that the F-16 fighters would not currently be effective enough to provide air defence, as Russia maintains a significant superiority in the air.

Source: Milley at the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine on Thursday, as correspondent of European Pravda reports.

Details: According to the top general of the US, one of the key issues in providing Ukraine with the F-16s is ensuring control over the airspace.

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"The fastest and cheapest way to protect airspace is to do it from the ground and provide effective ground-based air defence systems. This is the most effective way to prevent the Russians from gaining air superiority, and that's exactly what we did," he said.

"As for the F-16: 10 planes cost a billion dollars, and their maintenance costs another billion dollars. That is, 10 planes cost two billion dollars. The Russians have thousands of fourth- and fifth-generation fighter jets. Therefore, in order to oppose them in the air, a significant number of fourth- and fifth-generation fighters are needed," added Milley.

He, however, pointed out that in the future the F-16s will play their part in Ukraine's Air Force, but it will take a considerable amount of time to build up an air force of the necessary volume and firepower.

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In turn, the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, announced that Denmark and the Netherlands will lead a European coalition to conduct training for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, and Norway, Belgium, Portugal and Poland have also offered to contribute to the training.

Earlier, Austin expressed hope that the training of Ukrainian pilots to pilot F-16 fighters will begin in the coming weeks. The Pentagon previously stated that Ukrainian pilots would train on F-16 fighters at military bases in Europe.

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