Ukraine war
Expert: F-16 commitments important for Ukrainian motivation
A Dutch Air Force F-16 fighter jet lands at Schiphol Airport during a military exercise. The Netherlands and Denmark want to deliver jets of this type to Ukraine. photo
© Remko De Waal/epa/dpa
Ukraine has long wanted F-16 fighter jets to defend itself more effectively. Denmark and the Netherlands are now guaranteeing deliveries. But that causes debate.
“The fighter jets are an essential element that helps him to maintain and promote the motivation of the population and the troops.” This applies all the more because the counter-offensive “is not yet where it should be in the general perception”.
Delivery time for jets
However, the F-16 is not a “game changer”. “I don’t want to miss the element of surprise, but the jets won’t be delivered for a few months,” said the visiting professor of strategy at the London School of Economics. “Certainly, the F-16 will be able to take a heavy toll on the Russian attack helicopters and make the airspace safer for the advancing ground forces,” Terhalle said.
“But the Russian air force will not voluntarily give up its previous superiority. Depending on how quickly the F-16s are deployed, the Ukrainian ground forces will be more or less exhausted.” It is possible that Ukraine would initially rely more on artillery and cluster munitions in order to have time before the combat aircraft could be deployed.
Criticism of Chancellor Scholz
Terhalle also called for the federal government to speed up its decision on whether to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. This promise will only come when there is more pressure from NATO, said the expert. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s (SPD) “frequently mentioned level-headedness” is based solely on “the state of mind of part of the social-democratic electorate.”
Scholz is “in his view far too isolated in domestic political thought calculations”. Terhalle emphasized: “Even after 18 months of war, Germany has not acquired any strategic power of initiative.”
Left-wing politician wants to stop F-16 delivery
Left-wing politician Sören Pellmann is urging the federal government to prevent the Netherlands and Denmark from delivering F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. This “crosses another red line”, criticized the Leipzig member of the Bundestag.
“The federal government must do everything possible to stop the delivery through political pressure. It cannot be the case that individual NATO countries make this decision for themselves and thus escalate the situation for everyone.”