The U.S. will arm dozens of F-16 jet fighters being sent to Ukraine with American-made missiles and other weapons, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on July 30.
Ukraine is awaiting at least 79 F-16s from the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, and Norway, with up to 20 expected to arrive this year.
The Pentagon has limited stocks and production capacities, but it will supply Ukrainian F-16s with air-to-ground munitions, precision-guidance kits for bombs, and advanced air-to-air missiles in sufficient quantities to meet Ukraine's most urgent needs, a senior U.S. official told WSJ.
"We are confident that we will be able to supply all of those (weapons), at least the critical volumes that they need," the U.S. official said.
The weapons the U.S. will provide for the F-16s include AGM-88 HARM air-to-ground missiles, long-range JDAM munitions that turn unguided bombs into smart weapons, and GLSDB small-sized precision-guided munitions, according to the media outlet.
The European members of the fighter jet coalition were reluctant to send Ukraine a large number of their limited stocks of ammunition for F-16s, so they settled for supplies from the U.S., which is a member of the coalition but does not transfer its aircraft, WSJ wrote.
Kyiv has been calling for these U.S.-made fourth-generation jets since the very first year of the full-scale war in order to bolster its air force, which is made up of Soviet-made aircraft and has been significantly depleted over the past years of war.
Despite promises by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on July 10 that the first Dutch and Danish F-16s are already on their way, no delivery has been confirmed so far.
Chris York
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