By Chris Thompson
The first F-16 aircraft will begin to arrive in Ukraine this year. The aircraft will arrive alongside trained pilots and maintenance personnel.
The head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin stated this before the start of the meeting in the Ramstein format (Ukraine Defense Contact Group).
According to Austin, over the past two years, members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group have provided Ukraine with more than 70 medium and long-range air defence systems, as well as thousands of missiles.
“We provided more than 3,000 armoured vehicles, including more than 800 main battle tanks. We handed over tens of thousands of anti-tank missiles to Ukraine,” the Pentagon chief said.
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According to him, this year the first F-16 fighters will begin to arrive in Ukraine.
“This year, more than a squadron of donated F-16 will begin to arrive in Ukraine along with pilots and service personnel trained by members of this Contact Group,” Austin said.
As the Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on 13th April, the Air Force said that Ukraine needs at least 150 aircraft to effectively perform the tasks.
Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands are preparing to transfer F-16 fighters with the latest weapons to Ukraine.
Recall, that on 11th March, the American edition of The New York Times reported that the first F-16 fighters will arrive in Ukraine in July this year.
Source: Ukrainian News