Pressure campaign on Biden to send F-16s to Ukraine goes into overdrive

The Biden administration is facing a new and amplified pressure campaign to greenlight the transfer of F-16s to Ukraine after the UK announced it would train Ukrainian fighter pilots and Kyiv ramped up its calls for the warplanes.

While the administration has crossed several other red lines in military aid — approving everything from guided rockets to drones to Abrams tanks they once claimed would provoke Russia — the Biden administration is holding the line for now on the Lockheed Martin-made F-16s, according to Politico.

But momentum may be building for Washington to do the next best thing: allow other countries that fly the F-16 to send their own jets to Ukraine.

The pressure campaign is a multi-pronged effort by friendly European governments, US lawmakers from both parties and, most vocally, Ukrainian leadership. This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled throughout Europe advocating for more aid, especially the jets.

A new wrinkle appeared on Tuesday when the UK announced the kickoff of an international coalition of countries focused on procuring F-16s for Ukraine. Under the agreement, the UK said it would soon start training Ukrainian pilots to fly modern fighter jets; Belgium quickly followed suit, saying it could also train the pilots.

Appearing virtually in front of a gathering of leaders in Reykjavik on May 16, Zelenskyy said that given his country’s vast size, “we need additional air defence systems and missiles. We also need modern fighter jets, without which no air defence system will be perfect. And I am sure we will get there.”

The F-16 issue is expected to loom over the G-7 gathering in Japan this week, a preview of the public campaign Ukraine and other world leaders are expected to continue at NATO’s annual leaders' summit in Lithuania in July.

“There’s an ongoing discussion about also other types of jets,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of last month’s meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

A spokesperson for Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that “jets are the only thing still missing from Reznikov’s wishlist.”

While the White House has repeatedly dismissed the possibility of sending the US Air Force’s F-16s, it has never ruled out approving a third-party transfer from another country. Nations that have purchased the F-16, or any other weapons system, from the U.S. must first seek Washington’s approval before transferring them to a third country. The US, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, have nixed requests in the past if there are concerns over transfers of specific sensitive technologies.

When asked for comment, a Pentagon spokesperson pointed to a January POLITICO article quoting a senior DoD official saying, “I don’t think we are opposed” to the idea of a third-party transfer. The official, who like others quoted in this story was granted anonymity to speak about sensitive discussions, stressed a decision has not been made.