The head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and NATO Allied Air Command, General James B. Hecker, revealed last week that the Ukrainian Air Force has taken a “cautious approach” with the few F-16 fighter-bombers recently delivered to them. This is especially true because they have already lost one of their most experienced pilots at the controls.
“Their pilots are novices in this area, so they are not going to send them on the riskiest missions,” explained General Hecker during the Air, Space & Cyber Conference of the Air Force Association. Furthermore, he asserts that Kyiv must advance towards a unified operational strategy, given the underrepresentation of the Ukrainian Air Force in the General Staff, which potentially limits its influence on operational planning.
General Hecker admitted to having doubts about the Ukrainian Air Force’s ability to handle the maintenance of the delivered F-16s. “We trained a lot of Ukrainian technicians, and from what I’ve seen when I talk to the instructors who train them, they learn very quickly,” he said. Consequently, the U.S. administration abandoned its plan to dispatch private contractors to Ukraine for this task.
Moreover, General Hecker claimed that the Ukrainian Air Force had shot down “over 100 Russian planes” and lost “at least 75” of its own aircraft. “This prevents both sides from fully utilizing their fighters for fear of losing them,” he noted.
That said, the F-16 may not be the most suitable aircraft for the Ukrainian Air Force’s requirements. For instance, its belly air intake requires a perfectly “clean” runway for takeoff, meaning dedicated infrastructure is necessary. In contrast, the Swedish JAS-39 Gripen C/D, which can operate in rough conditions without requiring heavy maintenance between flights, should have been Kyiv’s priority. However, that was not the case.
In a July 10 interview with Voice of America, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström confirmed that Kyiv had declined an offer from Stockholm to transfer Gripens.
“We need to understand that Ukraine had the opportunity to receive F-16s […] After all, the F-16 is more widespread than the Gripen. This is unrelated to the Swedish government’s decision. The Swedish diplomat explained that Ukraine made this decision because they concluded that managing two systems simultaneously, the F-16 and the Gripen, would be too complicated. And this came as France had just announced its donation of Mirage 2000-5F jets to Kyiv… A situation open to interpretation.
However, things could get more complicated. Since then, Sweden has included the delivery of Gripen spare parts in its latest military aid package to Ukrainian forces, suggesting that they have reconsidered. Even more so, Ukraine is now open to receiving Eurofighter EF-2000/Typhoons. Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s Defense Minister, made this statement during a television interview on September 22.
“We already have commitments from our partners regarding the F-16s and Mirages. Consultations are ongoing for the Gripen and Eurofighter,” Umerov said. He hinted that announcements are imminent.
Who might supply Eurofighters to Ukraine is still unknown. In Europe, only the air forces of Germany, Italy, Austria, Spain, and the United Kingdom operate them. Two of them, the Royal Air Force (with 30 units slated for scrapping for parts) and the Italian Air Force (with 26 units), plan to retire their oldest planes from Tranche 1.
Regardless, according to Umerov, Russian forces have deployed up to 300 aircraft and 300 helicopters in Ukraine. “That is why we emphasize to our partners the number of squadrons we need,” he said. “In this regard, we explain to them why we need such systems,” he concluded.
