Ukraine will reportedly have to wait up to another six months to receive F-16 fighter jets promised to the war-torn country from the Kingdom of Denmark, according to the Danish Ministry of Defense.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been lobbying Western countries for years to acquire US-made F-16 fighter jets, but the Danish Ministry of Defense announced the delivery of the first F-16 jets on Saturday, marking the first combat We will probably have to wait longer before the aircraft is delivered. It will be delayed by at least half a year.
In August, Denmark became the first major power to announce its intention to donate part of its inventory of advanced fighter jets, pledging to Kyiv 19 of its F-16s to help Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in August that the first delivery of about six F-16s was expected to arrive in Ukraine “around the new year,” with the remaining aircraft expected to be delivered between 2024 and 2025. Stated.
However, this schedule appears to have been too optimistic, with Defense Department officials saying: tell danish newspaper berlingske Your first donation will be delayed by up to 6 months.
Although the exact reason for the delay has not been disclosed, it is widely understood that training pilots to fly the F-16 is a long and arduous process, and therefore the training of Ukrainian pilots This is likely to be a contributing factor to the delay.
Anders Pak Nielsen, military analyst at the Norwegian National Defense University Said Danish broadcaster TV2: “Training pilots to fly the F-16 aircraft is one thing, just as all technicians on the ground have to be trained to maintain the aircraft. , meaning that pilots must also be trained in the use of weapons.''Airplanes. Just getting trained on engines is a lot of work. ”
President Zelenskiy vows Russia will feel Ukraine's 'wrath' over arrival of Western F-16 jets in New Yearhttps://t.co/zpgv4ICuOe
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 1, 2024
Nielsen said that converting Ukraine's air force into a fully modern fleet is likely to be a project that will take “several years” and that, despite constant requests from President Zelenskiy, Kiev will likely not be able to take delivery of fighter jets. He said he expected delays.
Defense experts say delivery of the F-16 jets will not only give Ukraine the ability to shoot down Russian aircraft, but also allow Moscow to target Ukrainian cities as winter conditions make ground combat more active. He said it could bring about big changes, such as giving the country the ability to shoot down cruise missiles used to attack civilians. difficult.
“This will give the Ukrainian military some security in being in Ukrainian airspace, and the Russian military will not be as close to Ukrainian cities,” Nielsen said of the F-16s.
Therefore, this delay will be a big blow to President Zelenskiy. In his New Year's address, President Zelenskiy vowed to the Ukrainian people that Russia would soon feel the “wrath” of F-16 fighter jets provided by the West. In addition to Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway have also committed to delivering some F-16s, but there is currently no clear timeline for when that will happen.
This comes as Germany revealed this week that only a “very small number” of the modern Leopard 2 tanks it provided to Ukraine were still in service.
Sebastian Schaefer, a Green Party parliamentarian and defense expert, said the state-of-the-art tanks were virtually disabled on the battlefield due to a lack of spare parts and the Ukrainian military's inability to repair the vehicles without causing further damage. cites a lack of ability to do so.
Useless tank…https://t.co/JynmVaQaRq
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 6, 2024
