Air-Force Stephen Blank: Biden administration must provide F-15 jets to Ukraine

[Gary]

ByDylan Malyasov

Apr 7, 2021

Modified date: 23 hours ago
Photo by Dylan Malyasov
Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute Stephen Blank said that U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration must provide advanced F-15 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Stephen Blank calls that the need to upgrade Ukraine’s Air Force presents an opportunity for the Biden administration to cause Moscow some genuine pain, in both the real strategic sense and in terms of the long-running propaganda war.
Ukraine currently has a fleet of heavy fighters of around fifty Soviet-designed Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker interceptors. Around thirty are believed to be operational.
He thinks that the only Western alternative that can replace them is the U.S.-made F-15 Eagles, at least one hundred of which are needed for under-strength units.

Ukrainian Su-27. Photo by Dylan Malyasov

“A U.S.-funded aid or “lend-lease” package of 100 or more F-15s, six to eight E-2C-2000 Hawkeyes, and eight to 12 KC-135R tankers, along with Link-16 datalink terminals, smart munitions, cruise missiles, and suitable reconnaissance and targeting equipment would send Moscow an unambiguous message and help deter any future invasion plans,” Stephen said.
There are many ways of implementing and funding a potential package of air defense equipment for Ukraine, analyst Stephen said.
He explained that the “instant capability” option is to pull mothballed F-15C/D, E-2C-2000, and KC-135R aircraft out of storage and send them to Ukraine, with downstream upgrades for the F-15s as proposed for Japan.
Alternately, the U.S. could supply new build F-15QA or F-15EX jets to Ukraine.
In addition, earlier in March 2021, opex360.com reported that France is considering proposing an alternative to Soviet-era Mikoyan MiG-29 combat aircraft for the Ukrainian Air Force’s future fighter jet.

Stephen Blank: Biden administration must provide F-15 jets to Ukraine

Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute Stephen Blank said that U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration must provide advanced F-15 fighter jets to Ukraine. Stephen Blank calls that the need to upgrade Ukraine’s Air Force presents an opportunity for the Biden administration...

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[Philip the Arab]

Won't do anything for Ukraine, Russia will destroy all of its air force infrastructure with cruise missiles before invasion.

 

[Gary]

Won't do anything for Ukraine, Russia will destroy all of its air force infrastructure with cruise missiles before invasion.

it's better for the US to supply Ukrainians with more Javelins, comms and surveillance assets.

 

[Costin84]

Won't do anything for Ukraine, Russia will destroy all of its air force infrastructure with cruise missiles before invasion.

People are taking this Iranian started dumb propaganda that " cruise missiles will magically evaporate all infrastructure in a war " to far.Cruise missiles can cause damage but they won't destroy whole airfields, entire jet fleets on the ground.
What wins a war today is air superiority coupled with dominating the electronic/intelligence spectrum. Ofcourse, if you want to hold ground not only decimate your adversaries armies and infrastructure you'll have to follow up your aerial dominance with strong ground presence.

 

[Ryder]

Just when the F15EX becoming more of a standard. Usa found the right place to dump its old F15s.

Not a game changer at all also not what Ukraine wants as it will take years for the Ukrainian airforce to get used to its new jets.

 

[ekemenirtu]

It stands to reason that if the Houthi faction in Yemen could hit an F-15 fighter aircraft, record it and share the video with the rest of the world, then the Russians probably would be able to deliver significantly more damage to the F-15 aircrafts - if supplied to the Ukrainians - as well as supporting assets such as refuellers or tankers.

Of course, such transactions can not be carried out overnight or in a matter of weeks either since the extended supply chain means many parts need to be stocked, maintenance crews need to be trained, pilots need to be trained and tactics developed for air force pilots. An arduous task by all means.