Germany not ready to join fighter jet coalition: Pistorius explains why

This is reported by DW.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius explained that Germany is not a member of the 'fighter jet coalition' by the fact that it does not have F-16s. According to him, such support also takes time.

“Emergency assistance cannot be provided in the coming weeks because training needs to be conducted, and repairs and logistics need to be prepared,” the German Defense Minister emphasized.

He noted that the Bundeswehr uses Eurofighter and Tornado aircraft, so it will not be able to join the coalition. At the same time, Pistorius said that Germany is an expert in tanks and air defense.

“We have been experts in supplying tanks and tank equipment, and we are experts in air defense, which is still of great importance,” the German Defense Minister emphasized.

The minister also said that by the end of the year, Germany is to train almost 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

“No country in the world has trained as many,” he said.

What is known about the transfer of F-16 to Ukraine

On May 16, the leaders of the UK and the Netherlands, Rishi Sunak and Mark Rutte, agreed to create a coalition of fighter jets for Ukraine. In return, the head of the Bundestag Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, said that Germany would not provide Ukraine with its own fighter jets.

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

The coalition to train the Ukrainian Armed Forces on F-16s will be led by Denmark and the Netherlands, and will include four other countries.

On May 20, the Defense Ministry announced that Ukraine hopes to receive the first modern American F-16 fighters in the fall of 2023. The country needs 40-50 aircraft in total.

On May 23, it was reported that Germany was considering options to support a coalition of countries that plan to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets.

On May 29, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that the country was ready to support Ukraine as long as necessary, including by strengthening air defense and training F-16 pilots.

On June 2, US President Joe Biden said that the United States and its partners would work together to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter jets, including the F-16.  

On June 5, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced that the Defense Forces will not use F-16 fighter jets during the counteroffensive that is to begin this summer.

Also on June 5, the German government considered revising its position on the supply of Western fighter jets to Ukraine. The final decision will be made within the next two weeks.

On June 15, NATO announced that the allies had already begun training Ukrainian pilots on Western F-16 fighter jets, while the Ukrainian Air Force said that the training was in the preparation phase.

On June 20, the US arms company Lockheed Martin agreed to help Ukrainian pilots and technicians train and maintain its F-16 fighter jets.