The US administration has rejected a Pentagon plan to send American contractors to Ukraine to maintain Western hardware, including F-16 fighter jets, according to reports by the Wall Street Journal citing officials in Washington. This decision intensified following the delivery of the first batch of six F-16s to Ukraine in late July.
The White House National Security Council investigated the proposal put forth by the military, but ultimately deemed it too risky, with sources familiar with the matter telling the WSJ that concerns were raised over the possibility of Russia targeting American contractors in Ukraine. The Biden administration has not completely ruled out sending US contractors to Ukraine, but it is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
For now, Washington expects its NATO allies in Europe to take responsibility for servicing the US-designed jets. For instance, the Netherlands, which together with Norway, Denmark and Belgium promised to supply Kiev with more than 80 F-16s, has announced that it will fund a private contract between a civilian maintenance company and the Ukrainian Air Force.
The WSJ pointed out that Ukraine had previously struggled to maintain other US-supplied weapons, such as the Abrams M1 tank, which had to be shipped outside the country for repairs. The outlet also noted that an F-16 requires “hours of service for every hour of flight time,” with dozens of support personnel usually working on each plane.
In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the use of F-16s in the conflict will make them “a legitimate target” for Russian forces, stating that the planes will be struck even at airfields inside NATO countries if they operate from there.