US F-16 fighter plane. File/AP.
New York: US fighter jets F-16 which was once denied by India for its less efficient primary long-range air-to air weapon, the AMRAAM, may be used by Ukraine for fighting Russia. Anticipating rise in demand, manufacturer Lockheed Martin is ramping up production of the aircraft.
The F-16 was built under an unusual agreement creating a consortium between the United States and four NATO countries: Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway.
A Financial Times report quoted chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin, Frank St John saying that the company was “going to be ramping production on F-16s in Greenville [South Carolina] to get to the place where we will be able to backfill pretty capably any countries that choose to do third-party transfers to help with the current conflict.”
The US’ largest defence contractor, Lockheed Martin, said that there was “a lot of conversation about third party transfer of F-16s” — whereby countries would re-export their US jets to war-torn Ukraine to defend its airspace.
The statement comes after some of the Ukraine’s closest European allies are considering providing fighter jets to Kyiv, where the war has entered its twelfth month.
Ukraine that has secured dozens of high-end battle tanks from NATO allies including Leopard 2, now pushes for Western fourth-generation fighter jets including F-16.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to Kyiv’s allies war tanks, but said he had asked NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for more assistance.
“We have to unlock the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine, it is important for us to expand our cooperation in artillery, we have to achieve the supply of aircraft to Ukraine. And this is a dream. And this is a task,” he said in his nightly address.
For the unversed, F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole fighter aircraft developed for the US Air Force. A report by CNBC quoted Yuriy Sak, an advisor to Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, saying: “We will get F-16s”.
However, the White House turned down appeals of Ukraine for its modern fighter out of fear that they could be used to strike Russian territory.
Also, the US government must give its approval on sale, transfer to third countries, of fighter jets made in America.
“Along with our international allies and partners, we are in regular communication with the Ukrainians on their needs and requests. At this time, we have nothing to announce regarding F-16s,” a US defence official said.
As per reports, EU member are mulling re-exporting F-16s directly to Ukraine. European officials said that the US-made jets could also be sent by western states to former Warsaw Pact countries that could then send their Soviet-designed aircraft to Kyiv.
According to the US government, the F-16 Fighting Falcon is a compact, multi-role fighter aircraft, but according to F-16.net, there were five accidents involving these fighter jet in 2022 alone, two of which were during training.
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.