The company is going to increase the production of F-16 aircraft to support the countries that will provide their fighters to Ukraine.

The company that produces the American F-16 fighters is ready to supply the planes to European countries that will transfer their fighters to Ukraine.

According to the Financial Times, the chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin, Frank St. John, said that there are many talks about the transfer of F-16 fighters to third parties, that is, about the re-export of American fighters to Ukraine by other countries to protect its airspace. He added that his company is not directly involved in the negotiations, but “is going to ramp up production of F-16 aircraft in Greenville, South Carolina, to a level where we can effectively support any countries that decide to transfer aircraft.” to third parties to assist in the resolution of the current conflict.

As the publication writes, the White House rejected Ukraine’s request for the provision of modern F-16 fighters. This happened due to fears that the planes could be used to launch strikes on Russian territory.

First, the US government must approve the sale or transfer of US-made fighter jets to third countries. Then European countries will need political support from the Biden administration.

At the same time, one of the representatives of the US Department of Defense said that “there is nothing to announce about the F-16 fighter jets yet.”

Instead, Europe believes that re-export of F-16 aircraft directly to Ukraine by EU member states is one of the possible options. In addition, American fighters can be sent by Western countries to the former Warsaw Pact countries, after which they will be able to send their Soviet-designed aircraft to Ukraine.

Airplanes for Ukraine: the latest news

Slovakia is ready to discuss the transfer of its MIG-29 fighters to Ukraine. The Minister of Defense of Slovakia, Jaroslav Nagy, said that the planes are currently at one of Slovakia’s bases, and “now we are ready to discuss the transfer of these planes to Ukraine.”

At the same time, the spokesman of the command of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yuriy Ignat said that it is already known in fact what type of aircraft Ukraine will receive from international partners and what are the terms of personnel training. He noted that the issue of the supply of aircraft is constantly raised by the highest military leadership of Ukraine and the leadership of the Ministry of Defense.