2023-09-15 14:00:00
Within the federal government, an idea is gaining ground: that of delivering the Belgian F-16s or at least some of them to Ukraine. We know that the counter-offensive once morest the Russian troops is bloody and difficult, particularly due to the lack of air support. Several European countries have decided to deliver F-16s to the Ukrainian army. Belgium, on the contrary, has not made the same decision. However, our country has this type of multitasking fighter plane. These aircraft are expected to be replaced by F-35s.
For the MR, this position needed to be re-examined. In kern (select ministerial committee), this Friday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hadja Lahbib, and David Clarinval, the Deputy Prime Minister MR, asked that we carry out a study in order to be able to deliver our devices to the Ukrainians.
Belgium will not send its old F-16s to Ukraine: “Some people are obsessed with it”
“I asked and the MR asked that we be able to make a decision with full knowledge of the facts,” Hadja Lahbib told La Libre. We asked the Defense for an analysis with different scenarios. Some military officials have said that some F-16s that have not reached the maximum number of flight hours, 8,000 hours, might be delivered to the Ukrainians. We all have the goal of ending this war as quickly as possible. There are Ukrainians dying every day, and this is happening 2000 km from our borders. We are committed to supporting the Ukrainians for as long as necessary. It is a moral duty.”
David Clarinval: “This point is particularly important to us”
A few days ago, the Minister of Defense, Ludivine Dedonder (PS), explained that Belgium would not give away its fighter planes. Unlike the Netherlands, for example. It seems that she accepted in Kern this Friday the MR’s request to review this point. “The study aims to objectify how the end of life of our F-16s will happen,” explains David Clarinval. It may take months or years but our planes will become available. Not in the short term, we know, but in the medium or long term. We can then send them to Ukraine. Some soldiers had recently said that deliveries were not possible. So we go beyond. The general staff must now carry out this study and the Minister of Defense must present it to us. This is going to take a while. But this point is particularly important to us. The MR asked for it in Kern and the Prime Minister supported us. Minister Dedonder finally accepted.”
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