A hidden message accompanied Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal when he entered Canada last April. Airplane and Praying Hands emojis appeared discreetly in the cabin of his civilian plane. Ultimately, Ottawa only provided the Ukrainian army with money, radios and small arms during this official visit, but the Ukrainian leadership’s insistence on their allies ultimately paid off.

Britain’s Prime Minister vowed this week to form an “international coalition” to deliver Western fighter jets to Kiev, namely the F-16, fighter jets vastly superior to those currently fighting in Ukraine. The Netherlands immediately announced their membership in this coalition. Shortly thereafter, the French president “opened the door to training Ukrainian pilots” in NATO gear.

But there’s a catch: all of these fights waited for the green light from Uncle Sam. [des priorités ukrainiennes]”Modern Western aircraft are about eighth,” he said Let it go In late April, US Assistant Secretary of Defense Celeste Wallander was questioned by elected officials.

On Friday, the coalition was finally able to really pick up speed. According to a senior White House official, President Biden has offered his support for “a joint initiative” for such supplies.

We would go from a conflict like World War I, with a very tight front line where we fought with guns and artillery all day, to a conflict like World War II

This so-called international coalition, however enthusiastic, could not take off without Washington’s approval. This has all the technological and diplomatic levers around these aircraft.

” [Les Européens] We are completely dependent on American technology, firstly for the logistics of the parts,” explains former fighter pilot Jean-Christophe Noël, now a researcher at the French Institute for International Relations. “On the other hand, they are part of NATO. There is solidarity. You know that after the F-16 there is the F-35 [les avions esnouvee le génération qu’achètent les Européens]. If the Americans don’t like it, they can tell them, “You’re giving these planes to people we told you not to give them to. If you guys do the same to us for the F-35, we can forget about it.” »

This dependency is not without irritation for the major European powers, who see it as a loss of “sovereignty” over their own armies, adds Mr Noël.

Give wings to the Ukrainian counteroffensive

The arrival of Western fighter jets will mark a crucial turning point in this conflict, which has been frozen since last fall. The F-16 is one of them bestseller of the world’s military aircraft and surpasses the Soviet aircraft previously used by both Russians and Ukrainians.

“First of all, this modernized air force could break the impasse we are in. We would go from a conflict like World War I, with a very narrow front line where we were shelling each other with guns and artillery all day, to a conflict like World War II, where gaining air superiority would make it easier to maneuver on the ground ‘ explains Jean-Christophe Noël.

An adviser to the Canadian Department of Defense who agreed to discuss the issue with him THE Duty on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to do so, believes the F-16s are being grounded for political and financial reasons rather than technical ones.

“F-16s have been a great sign of American power for decades. If an F-16 is shot down by the Russians, there will likely be a lot more negative news about it than if a handful were shot down [chars] Leopard are decommissioned. »

And most importantly, who will bear the staggering costs of aircraft maintenance, pilot training, and all the associated costs that are likely to skyrocket? “The United States ‘could’, in theory, bear all the costs. But they would prefer other countries to join too. »

This question remains unsolved.

Asked by The duty When asked whether or not to back the international coalition earlier this week, Canada’s defense minister’s office responded neither positively nor negatively. “We will continue to explore various avenues of military support to help Ukraine fight and win,” the short email replied. Canada doesn’t have any F-16s anyway, but there are retired CF-18s.

According to the military analysts polled, only a handful of European countries actually have the F-16s requested by Ukraine, namely Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark. And only the latter two have an air fleet sufficient to have dozens of machines.

More than planes and pilots

This previous refusal by the Americans to increase the weight of the weapons supplied has been repeated several times since the beginning of the war. Long-range weapons, anti-aircraft defenses and, more recently, tanks were out of the question until they weren’t.

However, this time the mouthful is much harder to stomach for an army like Ukraine’s.

Unlike Soviet aircraft, which offer pilots great autonomy, Western machines are surrounded by a whole range of highly specialized systems. Therefore, their training is not sufficient to use these advanced aircraft in Ukraine, explains Éric Ouellet, a professor at the Royal Military College. “Modern warfare is network warfare. Their radars are linked to terrestrial radars. They come with radar planes, and they all work together to find targets and protect planes. »

The spares logistics, mechanics, headquarters, and serviced (and secret) airstrips that must be provided stand in the way of F-16 integration into the Ukrainian military.

The transition from pilots familiar with Soviet planes to NATO maneuvers will take at least six months, estimates Jean-Christophe Noël, for whom any final decision must be made unanimously by Westerners. “The goal of Europe and the West is to stand united against the Russians. […] When we leave, everything is together. »

Whatever the case, the Ukrainians will undoubtedly have to do without these modern aircraft for their spring counter-offensive, which has been awaited for months.

To see in the video