BRUSSELS, June 15. /TASS/. NATO plans to deploy F-16 fighter jets in the future to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense system, although the issue of supplying the aircraft to Ukraine is thus far not on the alliance’s agenda, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said on Thursday.
"The most urgent need is to focus on air defense. That's extremely important. That is in the short term, in the middle term, and also in the long term, which is why we have now started the program for training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 platform," she said upon arriving at a meeting of the contact group on arms supplies to Ukraine, which is the first session within the framework of a NATO defense ministers’ meeting in Brussels. The official also noted that the training would involve both pilots and technical support personnel.
She stressed that, during the next stage, a new decision by the US would be needed to supply the jets to Ukraine, "but that is not on the table right now."
In turn, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized that Denmark was in charge of coordinating the training of Ukrainian pilots and the issue of delivering the F-16s had not yet been resolved, but "this is an important step that apparently will enable us to then deliver fighter jets at some stage."
On Wednesday, the Netherlands published a statement that a pilot training center for the Ukrainian army would be set up in Eastern Europe and currently NATO countries were developing personnel training programs.
Western experts note that, due to the F-16’s steep price tag and the serious reputational damage that could result from the loss of an aircraft in combat, their use near the active combat zone seems unlikely. It is more probable that the aircraft will be used in relatively safe areas as highly mobile platforms for launching cruise missiles, including Storm Shadow rockets. They could also be used as air-to-air missile carriers, that is, as a highly mobile air defense system carrier. To be successfully used in this capacity, the warplanes would need to be integrated as much as possible with the system for reconnaissance, detection and tracking of air targets.