2023-05-16 19:34:00
Britain and the Netherlands announce an “international coalition” to arm Ukraine with F-16s. But a lot is still open.
The F-16 Fighting Falcon is an export hit: 25 countries have the fighter aircraft in their arsenal. Thousands of pieces have already been produced. If the government in Kiev has its way, the Lockheed Martin plane should soon appear over the battlefields of Ukraine. Building a “fighter jet alliance”, actually an F-16 alliance, is a top priority for Ukraine. And months of diplomatic pressure seems to be working.
After Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit, French President Emmanuel Macron was now open to training Ukrainian pilots: the training might start “immediately”. And on Tuesday evening, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that they want to forge an “international coalition” as hoped by Kiev. The alliance is to equip Ukraine with F-16s and also train Ukrainian pilots. The full program. However, who provides the jets remained open. Certainly not the British. You can only do the training. Because the Royal Air Force does not have any F-16s, the Netherlands still has around two dozen.
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