Authored by Dave DeCamp by way of AntiWar.com,
The State Division has accepted a possible $310.5 million arms sale to Ukraine for coaching and sustainment of the nation’s fleet of US-made F-16 fighter jets, signaling that the Trump administration is getting ready to supply long-term army help.
The Pentagon’s Protection Safety Cooperation Company (DSCA) mentioned the sale will embrace plane modifications, upgrades, personnel coaching, upkeep, sustainment help, and different kinds of tools.
A number of of the US’s European allies have offered Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, and the US, underneath the Biden administration, was concerned in coaching Ukrainian pilots. A report from The Conflict Zone simply revealed that the US has been offering Ukraine with decommissioned, non-operational F-16 fighter jets.
A US Air Drive spokesman advised The Conflict Zone that the Air Drive has “supported the sustainment of European-donated F-16s to Ukraine by offering disused and fully non-operational F-16s to Ukraine for elements.”
“These F-16s had been retired from energetic US use and usually are not flyable. Importantly, they lack essential parts reminiscent of an engine or radar and couldn’t be reconstituted for operational use,” the assertion mentioned.
The approval of the F-16 coaching and sustainment deal got here a couple of days after the Trump administration moved ahead with its very first arms sale for Ukraine by notifying Congress of its plans to approve the export of unspecified “protection articles” price $50 million or extra.
That first sale is being moved ahead as a direct industrial sale (DCS), a deal the place the State Division provides a personal firm permission to promote weapons on to a international authorities. The F-16 coaching and sustainment deal is a Overseas Army Sale (FMS), which entails the US authorities within the sale.
The US-Ukraine minerals deal signed final week additionally indicators that the US is planning to supply long-term army help.
U.S. President Donald Trump says “great hatred” between Russia and Ukraine could block peace talks. Saying 5,000 troopers per week are dying, Trump mentioned “if I can save 5,000 souls, I simply love doing it.”#UkraineWar #Trump #PeaceTalks #RussiaUkraine pic.twitter.com/dJwT2zMiei
— CGTN Europe (@CGTNEurope) May 5, 2025
Below the settlement, future US army support will rely as a contribution to a joint US-Ukraine funding fund. Critics have mentioned this ensures the US is much more intertwined in Ukraine’s destiny.
