Vitaly Saenko19:29, 11.10.23

Denmark and the Netherlands will also be co-chairs of this coalition.

United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will lead a “coalition of capabilities” to develop the Ukrainian Air Force in the management of F16 multi-role fighters .

According to an UNIAN correspondent, Austin said this at a briefing after a meeting of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine (Ramstein-16), which took place at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The US Secretary of Defense said that members of the Contact Group are creating a “coalition of opportunity” that will make the process of providing assistance to Ukraine more flexible and will help secure its future.

In particular, some such “coalitions” have already been formed. For example, Estonia and Luxembourg will lead the direction focused on supporting Ukraine’s IT infrastructure. Lithuania will lead efforts to help Ukraine neutralize Russian mines on Ukrainian territory.

“I am proud to announce that the United States is once again intensifying efforts to help lead a coalition of countries working with Ukraine to develop its Air Force. The United States, leading this ‘coalition of opportunity,’ will closely coordinate with Ukraine and other partners with careful attention to to develop Ukraine’s capabilities in controlling F16 fighters,” Austin emphasized.

He added that this coalition would also be co-chaired by Denmark and the Netherlands, along with the United States.

The US will join several more “capability coalitions” in other areas when they are formed in the coming weeks, including air defense, armor and artillery capabilities, Austin said.

At the same time, he commented on when the F16 fighters will be in Ukraine.

According to him, work on training Ukrainian pilots has already begun in Europe and the United States, but it will take months to provide initial capabilities. “It won’t be until next spring that we’ll be able to see initial capabilities,” Austin said.

Separately, the US Secretary of Defense said that there are no announcements today about the possibility of providing Ukraine with ATACMS long-range missiles.

“But I will tell you about what we are focused on, and we believe that this is what Ukraine needs, because President Zelensky spoke about these things today. He spoke about the need for additional capabilities of ground-based air defense systems, as well as artillery platforms and artillery shells,” Austin said.

As the US Secretary of Defense added, it is this kind of assistance that is very useful for the protection of Ukrainian cities and troops. “We will continue this work,” Austin assured.

(C)UNIAN 2023