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For a long time, Ukraine has had to ask for Western fighter jets in order to better defend itself against Russia. Now, at least, Joe Biden has changed his mind. The American president has so far been against the supply of US aircraft. At the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, he spoke out in favour of it. More than high time for Ukraine.

Jörg Römer, DER SPIEGEL
»Ukraine simply has a problem with its air force. The machines they have are predominantly from the Soviet era, like the Russian machines. So, the MiG-29 is in service, the Sukhoi 27 for example. This means that sooner or later it can be assumed that Ukraine will have a problem, not only in the number of machines that may break down or be shot down, but also simply in terms of spare parts and the stocking of weapons, i.e. bombs. Because, of course, there is a great need. They fly missions every day, the Ukrainians, and at some point they run out of bombs."

It is true that the West has already supplied ammunition for fighter jets, such as anti-radar missiles of the "Harm" type or British cruise missiles called "Storm Shadow". However, all these weapons were not designed for Soviet carrier-based aircraft.

Jörg Römer, DER SPIEGEL
"The Ukrainians and also the Western allies were able to circumvent this, for example, with relatively tricky adapters that were developed. So for the "Storm Shadow", for example, last year they were already secretly working in Poland on how to get these cruise missiles under the MiG-29."

On a larger scale, however, the procurement of suitable ammunition is a problem that can probably only be solved in the long term by supplying Western fighter jets. The F-16 is now being discussed, a single-engine aircraft from the US manufacturer Lockheed Martin – albeit from the Cold War era.

Jörg Römer, DER SPIEGEL
"It's a kind of all-purpose weapon, you could say. Relatively easy to convert, the Dutch have some in the hangar, the Norwegians, the Danes. And the F-16 is simply a machine that flies its missions insanely often around the world. The amount that can be made available is correspondingly large, so to speak, but also, of course, all the logistics around it, which is also a huge factor. But the most important factor is, of course, the possibility of being able to shoot NATO standard ammunition, which is available in large quantities, with a Western combat machine."

And then there is the question of education. How quickly will Ukrainian fighter jet pilots be able to retrain on the new systems?

Jörg Römer, DER SPIEGEL
"In the end, of course, the question is always: How well do I want to train people before I can send them to war with a clear conscience, so to speak? We have seen this with many weapons systems in Ukraine. However, the Ukrainians have surprised us again and again with their skills. In the case of the F-16, it is probably the case that tests have already been carried out in the USA with experienced Ukrainian fighter jet pilots. And there, too, the result was surprisingly good. The capabilities may not be as good as experienced fighter pilots in the NATO alliance would be, but they are good enough to be successful with such a machine in action."

The debate about the delivery of fighter jets is strongly reminiscent of the past debate about the delivery of Western battle tanks. Always associated with the fear of how Russia might react to this.

Jörg Römer, DER SPIEGEL:
"Of course, you always have to keep in mind that fighter jets are not miracle weapons either. The F-16 in particular is getting on in years, it won't be THE game changer, just like no weapon has been THE game changer in Ukraine so far. An advantage will certainly be that the Ukrainians will then be able, just like the Russians, to drive a tactic where you use air-to-surface missiles from combat aircraft. When you no longer shoot surface-to-surface missiles from stationary weapon systems, but when you can shoot from the air very flexibly, very quickly from the rear of the front."

The realization seems to be catching on: Anyone who seriously wants to support Ukraine in national defense will ultimately have no way around the delivery of fighter jets.

Jörg Römer, DER SPIEGEL
"From a military point of view, this step was actually inevitable. Or rather, thinking about it, because it is absolutely clear that the Ukrainians already have a problem that is getting bigger and bigger. So it's actually been clear to all observers for a long time that you have to react."