Biden Administration Rejects Plan to Send Americans to Ukraine to Maintain F-16s
European countries are expected to step in to pay for maintenance and personnel to support the American-made aircraft and other weapons
WASHINGTON—The Biden administration has rejected a military proposal to send American contractors to Ukraine to maintain Western military equipment, including F-16 jet fighters, over concerns about safety, U.S. officials say.
The debate over sending American civilians to a country battling Russian forces to help maintain Western equipment has been ongoing since the early days of the war, but has recently become more critical with the long-awaited arrival of F-16s in Ukraine. The first six of a promised 80 F-16s jets arrived in Ukraine at the end of July.
The National Security Council looked at the proposal for sending civilian contractors into Ukraine to maintain F-16 jet fighters and other military weaponry, but the intelligence community and others deemed it too risky for now, officials familiar with the discussion said. Instead, the hope is that European countries will take on more—and perhaps all—of the responsibility for maintaining the F-16s.
“The intelligence community raised concerns over the prospect of Russia targeting American contractors in Ukraine,” according to a U.S. official.
The administration hasn’t ruled out sending American contractors to Ukraine in the future, but they aren’t expected to go there soon.
“This is something we are considering but have made no decisions,” said Sean Savett, principal spokesman for the National Security Council, said in a statement, regarding a proposal to send American contractors into Ukraine.
On Monday, Ukraine lost its first F-16 during a Russian missile barrage. Ukrainian and U.S. officials haven’t disclosed the cause of the crash, which killed a prominent pilot, and an investigation is under way.
The American-designed aircraft remains one of the U.S. Air Force’s most iconic jet fighters and requires highly skilled maintenance and other support, including hours of service for every hour of flight time. Dozens of support personnel typically work on each fighter.
While the Pentagon has said that it hopes that the Ukrainians can maintain the F-16s, all countries, including the U.S., rely to some extent on private companies and their personnel to help service the complex jet fighters.
Maintenance of the warplanes could prove crucial for Ukraine’s defense of its territory. Kyiv hopes the F-16s can prevent Russia from owning the skies and shoot down missiles launched at military and civilian infrastructure. Without civilian contractors servicing the planes—such as repairing and replacing parts—Ukraine will struggle to keep the Western-provided planes operational.
But the U.S. has been loath to send personnel into Ukraine over safety concerns. A small contingent of diplomats, military service members and other government contractors are assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
The Biden administration’s reluctance to send U.S. contractors to Ukraine to service American and other Western equipment reflects the larger debate over U.S. involvement in the war there. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the White House has held off on sending specific weapons to Ukraine over concerns of Russian escalation, only to allow those systems to go later.
While some officials inside the Pentagon had expressed support for sending American contractors to do maintenance, President Biden, led by his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was concerned the Defense Department lacked adequate plans to respond should those people come under attack.
“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 said.
Ukraine is expected to receive a mix of older and upgraded F-16s from the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Belgium.
A senior Dutch military officer confirmed that the Netherlands will pay for a private contract between a civilian maintenance company and the Ukrainian Air Force to support the F-16s.
“We support the Ukrainian government financially to make those contracts with private partners to see if they can hold the aircraft up and running in the future,” said Gen. Onno Eichelsheim, the chief of defense for the Netherlands, speaking to reporters in Washington on Wednesday.
The Ukrainians have struggled to maintain other U.S.-provided weapons, such as the Abrams tank. Much of the maintenance is done either with Ukrainians video-teleconferencing with repair experts abroad, or the equipment is shipped out of the country for repair, contributing to delays in getting the weapons back in operation.