Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper called for an urgent transfer of weapons to Ukraine that will help us launch a counteroffensive. We are talking about F-16 fighters and ATACMS.
In his opinion, the United States should approve the provision of aircraft to Ukraine. Then the APU would have received a significant advantage.
The former head of the Pentagon explained that in the event that Ukraine enters into a combined arms battle, we will need not only direct fire, but also fire from the air. At the same time, Esper expressed strong support for providing Ukraine with long-range precision-guided missiles.
We have to send them ATACMS, because that way the Ukrainians could get deep into the East of Ukraine, deep into the Crimea, to destroy Shahed launch pads, disable missile launch pads, smash logistics depots, barracks, whatever. It is necessary to have accurate weapons over long distances,” the former minister pointed out.
Are there any concerns about the escalation
In addition, Mark Esper did not agree with statements that the strengthening of military assistance to Ukraine will lead to an escalation of the situation.
“We cannot allow the Russians to influence our decisions, saber-rattling and restraining ourselves. Instead of reacting to the threat of a Russian offensive, I would rather see the Ukrainians go on the offensive now, while the Russians are still trying to teach, equip and organize of their military,” Esper added.
How the F-16s will help Ukraine
Justin Bronk, a researcher at the RUSI think tank in London, said that Ukrainian The Air Force will greatly benefit from Western fighters in terms of air-to-air and potentially air-to-ground lethality.
But he noted that fighter jets would still be at high risk from Russian surface-to-air missiles. In particular, Russian missiles will force Ukrainians to fly very low near the front line, which will “significantly reduce the effective range of missiles and limit strike options.”
F-16 fighters for Ukraine.
- Recently, the representative of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yuriy Ignat, said that Ukraine began to prepare the airfield infrastructure for F-16 fighters
- He also noted that Ukraine needs to update the entire stock of Soviet aircraft for American F-16 fighters and to create at least 5 air brigades from them to effectively defend against the Russian aggressor.
- On January 20, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Gukstra announced that the government would consider the possibility of supplying F- fighters 16, if requested by the Ukrainian government. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that he would negotiate with partners on fighter jets for Ukraine in the coming weeks.
