Australia, the US, and Ukraine are discussing sending 41 Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets to Kyiv, rather than scrapping them as planned, The Australian Financial Review (AFR) reports, referring to its sources.
According to AFR sources, the US is open to the idea of gifting Ukraine retired F/A-18 fighter jets, as it has recently granted permission for other Western allies to supply Ukraine with advanced fighter jets.
“The retired F/A-18s are sitting in a hangar at the Williamtown RAAF base outside Newcastle (New South Wales, Australia, – Ed.) and unless sent to Ukraine, will either be scrapped or sold to a private sector aviation company, RAVN Aerospace, to use in the US as “enemies” for military aviators to train against,” AFR wrote.
AFR says negotiations are underway, as confirmed by Australian security expert Robert Potter, who is advising the Ukrainian government, but a specific deal has not been finalized at this time.
A separate source close to the discussions agreed “it made no sense to destroy perfectly good aircraft that he said could be operational within four months and used to help repel the Russian invasion,” AFR says.
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