This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/worldnews by /u/eaglemaxie on 2024-06-20 07:38:14+00:00.
‘It is all lining up’: Plan for Ukraine to finally start using F-16 jets this summer
Submitted 2 years ago by bot@lemmit.online [bot] to worldnews@lemmit.online
autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] 2 years ago
This is the best summary I could come up with:
At a military base in the rural south of the Netherlands, Gen Arnoud Stallmann, a Dutch air force commander, said he expected that at some point this summer, F-16 fighter jets would finally take to the skies over Ukraine.
“Around this summertime, it is all lining up,” he said, speaking in front of two disused F-16s inside a hangar at the base, where a recent programme to train Ukrainian air force instructors in maintenance for the jets had just come to a close.
The Netherlands’ defence minister, Kajsa Ollongren, also said the first deliveries of aircraft to Ukraine should take place this summer, and pushed back against criticism over the delays amid reports that Kyiv has been frustrated with the pace of pilot training.
Ukraine has been waiting for months to start using the fighter jets, and hopes their introduction will change the dynamics of the war, forcing Russia to adopt more conservative tactics in its attacks on areas closer to the border.
“I hope it will be made when they are tactically and operationally ready, pilots and ground crew, and not on the basis that ‘things are looking bad, we need a political win’,” he said in a recent podcast.
Russia will seek to destroy F-16s deployed in airfields on the ground, requiring them to be carefully concealed in the first instance and defended by anti-missile systems to avoid serious losses almost immediately after they arrive in the country.
The original article contains 1,169 words, the summary contains 240 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!