US official says it could take months for allies to give Ukraine F-16s

PARIS — Any potential transfers of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine – whether from the United States or from an allied operator – would take months to complete, a State Department official said here June 19.

While the U.S. has not itself announced any transfers of F-16 fighter aircraft to Ukraine to date, it supports other allies’ intent to deliver those aircraft to Kyiv, said Stan Brown, the department’s principal deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.

Reports began swirling in May that the Netherlands was considering giving a portion of its F-16 fleet to Ukraine, and wanted to begin training pilots as soon as possible. But the transfer of such aircraft to Ukraine has to be a “holistic” approach, to include training both pilots and maintainers, Brown told reporters Monday at the biennial Paris Air Show outside the city. One of the first steps in a potential transfer of F-16 aircraft will be the license to train those airmen, before the license to transfer the aircraft even occurs.

Then, the aircraft themselves need to be identified – whether they’ll be delivered via a third-party transfer or another mechanism – before developing a plan for the Ukrainian military to use the aircraft, Brown continued.

The State Department is already working to complete the paperwork for third-party transfer requests coming from nations like the Netherlands so that pilot training can begin, he said. But he declined to provide a specific timeline for that completion.

The shadow of Russia’s war in Ukraine has prompted an overhaul of the State Department’s foreign military sales processes to both ensure Ukraine is receiving the military aid it needs quickly and efficiently and to streamline sales processes for other U.S. allies.

Last month, the department released a “retooling” document for FMS sales, detailing a 10-point plan to streamline the process and improve efficiency in providing capabilities to allies. The points include strategic goals such as developing regional approaches to arms transfers and promoting FMS cases based on the goals described in the National Security Strategy. But they also acknowledge a need to improve security cooperation officer training and modernize the notification process to Congress to avoid duplication of efforts while ensuring transparency.

The U.S. government has provided about $40 billion in military aid to Ukraine to date and “used pretty much every tool in our security cooperation toolkit to get things done,” Brown told reporters on the show floor here. That aid has come in many forms: presidential drawdown authorities, direct transfers from Defense Department stocks, excess defense articles, third-party transfers and direct commercial sale re-exports, as well as foreign military sales and grant assistance, and licensed direct commercial sales, he noted.

“The bottom line [is] that the scale of what we’re doing there is historic,” Brown said. “Things that used to take months and weeks to get through the approval process across the interagency [are] happening in a manner of hours.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also prompted the State Department to prioritize transitioning nations away from Soviet-made equipment, Brown said.

Multiple European nations have donated their aging Russian capabilities to Ukraine over the past year and a half. The Czech Republic, Greece, and Slovenia have sent over T-72 tanks, BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles and a slew of armored personnel carriers, with commitments from NATO member nations to replace that equipment with more modern, interoperable vehicles.

The State Department’s goal now is to help incentivize such nations to continue donating equipment to Ukraine that will be useful in Kyiv’s defense against Russia, as well as help to transition those countries away from Soviet-era systems in the future.

“We look first to make sure countries can help backfill Ukraine … and then we try to backfill them,” he added.

Vivienne Machi is a reporter based in Stuttgart, Germany, contributing to Defense News' European coverage. She previously reported for National Defense Magazine, Defense Daily, Via Satellite, Foreign Policy and the Dayton Daily News. She was named the Defence Media Awards' best young defense journalist in 2020.

巴黎——美国国务院一名官员6月19日在此表示，任何可能向乌克兰转让F-16战斗机的行动——无论是从美国还是从盟国运营商——都需要数月才能完成。

美国国务院政治军事事务局首席副助理国务卿斯坦·布朗表示，虽然美国迄今为止尚未宣布向乌克兰转让任何F-16战斗机，但它支持其他盟友向基辅交付这些飞机的意图。

今年5月开始有报道称，荷兰正考虑将其部分F-16战机移交给乌克兰，并希望尽快开始飞行员培训。但布朗周一在巴黎郊外举行的两年一度的巴黎航展上告诉记者，向乌克兰移交此类战机必须采取“整体性”方案，包括对飞行员和维护人员的培训。潜在的F-16战机移交的首要步骤之一是颁发飞行员培训许可证，之后才能颁发战机移交许可证。

布朗继续说道，接下来需要确定飞机本身——无论是通过第三方转让还是其他机制交付——然后再制定乌克兰军方使用这些飞机的计划。

他表示，国务院已经在着手处理来自荷兰等国的第三方转派申请的相关文件，以便飞行员培训能够尽快开始。但他拒绝透露完成这项工作的具体时间表。

俄罗斯在乌克兰的战争阴影促使美国国务院对对外军售流程进行全面改革，以确保乌克兰能够快速有效地获得所需的军事援助，并简化对其他美国盟友的军售流程。

上个月，国防部发布了一份对外军售（FMS）“重组”文件，详细阐述了一项旨在简化流程、提高向盟友提供能力效率的十点计划。这些要点包括一些战略目标，例如制定区域性武器转让方案，以及根据《国家安全战略》中描述的目标推进对外军售项目。但这些要点也承认，需要加强安全合作官员的培训，并对向国会提交报告的流程进行现代化改造，以避免工作重复，同时确保透明度。

布朗在展会现场告诉记者，美国政府迄今已向乌克兰提供了约400亿美元的军事援助，“几乎动用了我们安全合作工具箱中的所有手段来达成目标”。他指出，这些援助形式多样：包括总统授权撤军、国防部库存直接转移、剩余国防物资、第三方转移和直接商业销售再出口，以及对外军售和赠款援助，还有经许可的直接商业销售。

布朗说：“归根结底，我们在那里所做的事情规模是史无前例的。过去需要数月甚至数周才能通过跨部门审批流程的事情，现在几个小时就能完成。”

布朗表示，俄罗斯入侵乌克兰也促使美国国务院将帮助国家摆脱苏联制造的装备列为优先事项。

过去一年半以来，多个欧洲国家向乌克兰捐赠了其老旧的俄制装备。捷克、希腊和斯洛文尼亚已向乌克兰提供了T-72坦克、BMP-1步兵战车和大量装甲运兵车，北约成员国承诺用更现代化、更兼容的车辆替换这些装备。

美国国务院现在的目标是帮助激励这些国家继续向乌克兰捐赠有助于基辅抵御俄罗斯的设备，并帮助这些国家在未来逐步摆脱苏联时代的系统。

“我们首先要确保各国能够帮助乌克兰填补空缺……然后我们再尝试填补这些空缺，”他补充道。

薇薇安·马奇是驻德国斯图加特的一名记者，主要负责《防务新闻》的欧洲报道。她此前曾为《国家防务杂志》、《防务日报》、《卫星通讯》、《外交政策》和《代顿每日新闻》撰稿。2020年，她荣获防务媒体奖最佳青年防务记者称号。