© John Thys/AFP/Hans Pennink/KJNRobert F. Kennedy, Jr. • A Dutch Air Force F-16 fighter jet
The looming delivery of US-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine will not prevent the "collapse" of the country's military and will only benefit the military-industrial complex, Democrat presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Junior has claimed.
The Ukrainian conflict should be resolved through negotiations, RFK Jr. argued in a thread on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), stating:
"Supplying F-16s to Kiev was a "great decision for the defense industry, but a disaster for Ukraine and humanity.The presidential hopeful has long-opposed the enduring Western aid to Ukraine, spearheaded by Washington, arguing that the US should admit its "failure" in the country and focus on domestic issues instead. Kennedy's criticism of the fighter-jet delivery comes after Washington enabled its European allies to re-export older planes to Ukraine, and hours before the move was officially announced by Denmark and the Netherlands.
"F-16s won't stop the collapse of the Ukrainian military (which some experts say is imminent). These planes require a lot of training and maintenance. This isn't the movies."
The upcoming delivery was heralded by Dutch PM Mark Rutte on Sunday as he hosted Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at a military airbase in Eindhoven.
"Today we can announce that the Netherlands and Denmark commit to the transfer of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine and the Ukrainian Air Force, including cooperation with the United States and other partners once the conditions for such a transfer have been met."Simultaneously, the Danish Ministry of Defence released a statement confirming its pledge to provide Kiev with F-16s from its inventory, once certain "conditions" are met. The conditions "include, but are not limited to, successfully selected, tested and trained Ukrainian F-16 personnel as well as necessary authorizations, infrastructure and logistics," it said.
Kiev has long-demanded modern aircraft, as well as other, increasingly sophisticated weaponry, from its Western backers, arguing the planes would help it turn the tide of the conflict with Russia, which has been going on since February 2022. Moscow has repeatedly urged the collective West to stop the military deliveries, arguing they would only prolong the hostilities rather than change their ultimate outcome.
Reader Comments
So, to exercise caution, Russia would have to shoot them down at their runways to prevent an imminent nuclear attack. Even if this runway is in Poland, Romania, or Latvia.
There is another point, making it a very questionable choice to send those jets into combat. First, the whole Western doctrine (especially lately) does not take strong opposing air defenses into account. Many of the foes the US/Nato battled in the last 30 years didn't even have fighter jets. And second, the F-16 (and even the latest F-35) has a far inferior "visual field", i.e. radar range and AAM range.
Russian fighter jets have been built and designed for exactly that purpose, and have more than twice the range for both. Which means, they can shoot down F-16s long before they had been discovered. By the way, last year a Russian jet demonstated that, shooting down an Ukrainian Su-29 (I think) from more than 100 miles away.
Fact is, the Nato countries only dispose their old, decomissioned junk. Encouraged by the US, which sells them their ridiculously expensive F-35s instead. What a great business ...