American-made F-16 fighter jets due to arrive in Ukraine this summer are “no longer relevant”, a senior Ukrainian military official has said.
Before their arrival, the Western warplanes had been held up by some as a potential war-winner that could turn the tide of the conflict in Kyiv’s favour.
“Often, we just don’t get the weapons systems at the time we need them – they come when they’re no longer relevant,” a Ukrainian high-ranking officer told the Politico news website.
“Every weapon has its own right time. F-16s were needed in 2023; they won’t be right for 2024.”
F-16s are not going to help. They need state-of-the-art F-35 stealth multirole fighters if they want to have a chance.
The US has more than 700 F-35s, and the Ukrainians need to have access to as many of them as possible for a coordinated strike to stand a chance against Russia.
I'm not sure that Ukraine has the infrastructure needed to support any number of f-35s, especially not since the Russians have bombed all their runways.