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.

"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.

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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