Hastening the Coming Storm

One week after Polish president Andrzej Duda announced Warsaw would provide Ukraine approximately one-dozen Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets, Slovakian Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad announced his nation had handed over four of nine MiG-29s recently promised to Kyiv.  

In a worrying statement, Mr. Nad set forth: "Slovakia is on the right side and, with this gesture, we as a country have written ourselves in capital letters in modern world history, which speak of timely help, sincere solidarity and the greatness of the nation.”

The U.S. agreed last week to discount Slovakia’s purchase of 12 new Bell AH-1Z attack helicopters and five-hundred AGM-114 Hellfire II missiles. The purchase follows a previous commitment by the Central European nation to acquire 14 U.S. F-16 fighter jets.

Polish government spokesman Piotr Mueller stated on Wednesday, 15 March that other European nations had pledged to send MiGs to Kyiv, but had given no indication when. Slovakia, which has long intimated it will send Ukraine a number of its disused MiGs becomes—after Poland—the second NATO member to saddle itself with the dubious distinction of moving West and East closer to a third world war.

The debate over whether to provide Ukraine, a non-NATO country, with combat aircraft has dragged on in the West for over one-year. Most NATO member-states have perspicaciously eschewed the notion of further arming Ukraine, rightfully wary of escalating a territorial dispute into a global conflict.

Whether or not NATO countries other than Poland and Slovakia—both of which share eastern borders with Ukraine—acquiesce to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s increasingly vehement demands for military aid remains to be seen.

A cadre of eight U.S. Senators have commenced goading the Biden administration to provision Ukraine with American-made F-16 fighter jets. The group, led by Mark Kelly (Democrat, Arizona), penned a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin requesting the latter’s office provide an assessment of the circumstances under which the transfer of U.S. F-16s to Ukraine could be made possible.

The Senate letter reads in part: “After speaking with U.S., Ukrainian, and foreign leaders working to support Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference last month, we believe the U.S. needs to take a hard look at providing F-16 aircraft to Ukraine. This would be a significant capability that could prove to be a game changer on the battlefield.”

The Senators inquired after Ukrainian officials’ prioritization of fighter jets’ importance to their country’s war effort, and the means by which F-16s might be sourced—either newly-produced or from extant inventories. The lawmakers also sought a Pentagon assessment of what impact F-16s are apt to have on the Russo-Ukrainian conflict and how quickly Ukrainian military aviators could be trained to effectively pilot the F-16 in combat.

The Senate letter follows an effort spearheaded by Maine Democrat Jared Golden to convince the Biden White House to provide F-16s or similar aircraft to Kyiv.

The letter was written by Mark Kelly and signed by Democrats Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, and Jacky Rosen of Nevada as well as RINOs Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Ted Budd of North Carolina, and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

FMI: www.defense.gov