The National Security Council has rejected a military call to send American civilians to Ukraine to help maintain F-16 jet fighters and other Western-supplied military equipment after the intelligence community raised concerns that Russia could target the contractors, according to U.S. officials.
The Biden administration has been involved in a debate about the contractors since the Ukraine-Russia war began, but with the first six out of a promised 80 F-16 jets arriving in Ukraine, the argument has become more urgent, reports The Wall Street Journal Friday.
The administration hopes European countries will take on the maintenance of the fighter jets, but it has not ruled out sending Americans in to do the work, said Sean Savett, principal spokesman for the National Security Council.
Ukraine lost its first F-16 Monday during a Russian missile barrage, killing a prominent Ukrainian pilot. The cause of the crash hasn't been disclosed, and an investigation remains underway.
It typically takes dozens of support personnel to work on the U.S. Air Force's jet fighters, and the Pentagon says it hopes that Ukraine can do the maintenance. However, all countries, even the United States, rely on private contractors and personnel to service the planes.
Kyiv has hopes that the F-16s will help it keep control of the skies while shooting down Russian missiles, but could struggle to keep the planes up without the maintenance, including repairing and replacing parts.
The White House's reluctance to send American contractors into Ukraine reflects the debate over U.S. involvement in the ongoing war. Several times since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the administration has held off on shipping some weaponry, but eventually changed course.
Some Pentagon officials have supported sending in the American contractors.
However, President Joe Biden, under the advice of Jake Sullivan, his national security advisor, has been concerned that the Defense Department did not have plans about responding if Russia attacks them.
"We haven’t made any decisions and we’ve been clear that we are not sending any U.S. troops into the fight into Ukraine, but there are no Defense Department contractors performing work in Ukraine," a Pentagon official commented.
Ukraine is also expected to receive older and upgraded F-16s from the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, and Belgium.
The Netherlands will pay for a contract between the Ukrainian Air Force and a civilian maintenance company to support the fighter jets, Gen. Onno Eichelsheim, chief of defense for the Netherlands, told reporters in Washington this week.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has also had trouble maintaining other weapons provided by the United States, including the Abrams tank. Still, maintenance is often done with Ukrainian workers video-teleconferencing repair experts in other countries.
Sometimes the equipment is shipped out for repairs, which delays returning the weapons to battle.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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