Aviation coalition to expand soon and include not only F-16s for Ukraine – Defense Express expert Kyrychevskyi

He said this on the air of the Espreso TV channel. 

"The issue of Eurofighter aircraft arose after the political decision on the F-16 was made. In the coming weeks, the aviation coalition will be expanded to include not only F-16s for Ukraine, but also Eurofighter supplies from several countries. Sweden may be pressured to finally make a decision on JAS 39 Gripen fighters," Kyrychevskyi explained.

According to the expert, the Eurofighter and Gripen fighters may be better than the F-16 aircraft.

"If we manage to assemble 40 combat-ready F-16s in the near future, it will be good, but it is not enough. Because these aircraft will be enough for only one of the operational areas, and we have five of them, and we still need to look for more aircraft. Eurofighter and Gripen fighters may be better than F-16s. Because these aircraft can be equipped with the Meteor air-to-air missile, which can hit at a range of 200 km," Kyrychevskyi said.

• As a reminder, on 21 May, US President Joe Biden approved the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16s. Volodymyr Zelenskyy assured that Ukraine would not use these aircraft to strike at Russian territory.

• Ukraine hopes to receive the first modern US F-16 fighters in autumn 2023.

• The Pentagon is convinced that the delivery of F-16s to Ukraine will take several months.

• At the Ramstein meeting, it was stated that the coalition to train the Ukrainian Armed Forces with F-16s would be led by Denmark and the Netherlands and would include four other countries.

• On 30 May, Der Spiegel reported that after the massive shelling of Kyiv, Ukraine wants Eurofighter jets.