Pentagon eyes providing Ukraine with first F-16s this year

The West expects to transfer the first F-16 bomber fighters and equipment to service them to Ukraine in 2024, said Celeste Wallander, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs at the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy, Report informs.

“Ukrainian pilots are being trained and are working through the training program. We are aiming to provide an initial operating capability for Ukraine with its F-16 program in 2024, which would entail trained pilots, the platforms, but in addition, trained maintainers and sustainers, infrastructure, and spare parts, ammunition. All of these pieces is what the coalition's responsible for, and so we gave a briefing on where that stood this year,” a Pentagon spokeswoman said.