‘Surprise move’: US stunned by Poland’s offer of fighter jets

“I saw this announcement by the government of Poland while I was driving here today,” Victoria Nuland, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.

“As far as I know, we have not been consulted in advance about their intention to give us these planes,” she said. “But as you know, we’ve been in consultation with them for a few days now about this request from the Ukrainians to take their planes and if they’re going to donate them, and whether we’ll be able to help refill their security needs.

“I was in a meeting where I should talk about it right before I came in,” Noland said. “So I think this was actually a surprising move by the Poles.”

Poland has offered to send all its Russian-made MiG-29 combat aircraft “immediately and for free” to the US air base in Ramstein, Germany.

In return, the statement said that Warsaw “requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities. Poland is ready immediately to establish conditions for the purchase of aircraft.”

Poland also called on other NATO allies operating the MiG-29 “to work in the same vein”.

The US European Command declined to comment on the potential transfer, while a Pentagon official emailed “we have seen the Polish government’s announcement…we have nothing to offer at this time.”

Ukraine also flies the MiG-29 and has suffered heavy losses since the invasion of Russia late last month. Since then, senior Ukrainian officials have asked other countries operating the aircraft to move their MiG-29s, as this would mean minimal training for Ukrainian pilots.

By transferring the planes to American escorts rather than handing them over directly to the Ukrainians, the Polish government would avoid the logistical challenge of passing planes across the border, although it is not clear whether the United States can legally accept the transfer of Polish planes. .

Polish MiGs were upgraded in 2013 and 2014 with new avionics and other equipment to increase their lifespan, although the Polish Air Force has focused more on its growing fleet of F-16s, along with 32 incoming F-35s. , the first of which will arrive in 2024. It is likely that some of the new and sensitive technologies installed on the MiGs will be withdrawn before they are transferred to the Ukrainians.

A senior Defense Department official told reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday that the airspace over Ukraine remains disputed, with neither the Ukrainians nor the Russians owning the skies.

“Ukrainians are still capable of aviation and missile defense,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations. “The Russians continue to fly and are also capable of missile defense — very little of the country of Ukraine is not covered by some kind of Russian surface-to-air missile capability.”

The aircraft saga began just days after Russia invaded Ukraine, when the European Union’s security chief, Josep Borrell, said Poland, along with other eastern European countries that still fly Russian fighter jets, had agreed to quickly transfer the planes to Ukrainian pilots.

It turns out that this is not the case. Borrell later retracted those comments, saying it was up to individual countries to decide, and Polish President Andrzej Duda publicly rejected the agreement.

But US officials confirmed this weekend That a possible transfer was still under discussion. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Sunday that the United States is working with Poland on plans to provide Ukraine with MiG-29s, and “refill whatever they give the Ukrainians” on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

However, Warsaw seemed etched, with a government office tweeting on Sunday that “Poland will not send its fighter planes to Ukraine and will not allow the use of its airports. We are helping tremendously in many other areas.”

As for Poland’s request for American aircraft, it is likely to receive F-16s in exchange for abandoning the MiG-29s.

Other countries operating the MiG-29s include Slovakia and Bulgaria, although both countries last week rejected the idea of ​​moving their planes.

Slovakia’s small fleet of MiG-29s is the country’s only combat aircraft, and the government is uneasy about losing any of its air power until it finalizes an agreement with Poland to provide protection for Slovak airspace.