The United States can transfer the F-16 in secret: Zhdanov announced the timing of the delivery of aircraft
The issue with the F-16, according to the expert, has long been resolved.
Military expert Oleg Zhdanov admits that the United States may secretly transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, citing the fact that Ukrainian pilots are being taken to the States for testing.
According to Zhdanov, the United States allocated $100 million for pilot training in 2023.
“Naturally, they (pilots) will be trained on Western models. The United States will train them on one of their aircraft. And the most massive aircraft today is the F-16,” the expert said.
In this context, Zhdanov also recalled that Ukrainian pilots gave interviews to the media in the summer and autumn of 2022 about how they are trained on the F-16.
“Four months after these reports, we learn that the US budget officially includes the amount of money for the training of our pilots,” Zhdanov added.
The issue with the F-16, according to the expert, has long been resolved. “I think that by the beginning of the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, these aircraft may already appear,” Zhdanov said.
F-16 for Ukraine – the issue of deliveries of fighter jets to Ukraine
Ukraine has repeatedly raised the issue of supplying Western fighters so that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could gain air superiority.
In the West, the transfer of this type of weapons is considered inappropriate, arguing that the Ukrainian army primarily needs heavy equipment and ammunition.
In Britain, for example, they clarified that London is not against the transfer of modern combat aviation to Ukraine, but this is a matter of “long-term prospects.”
At the same time, Poland and Slovakia will supply modernized MiG-29s to Ukraine. However, the Air Force replied that these planes were “ineffective in the fight against terror in the Russian Federation.”