U.S. REJECTS OFFER TO RECEIVE POLAND’S MiG 29 FIGHTERS

 

                                         …This is a Russian MiG 29 fighter jet.

 

The offer from Poland was a surprise to the U.S. Pentagon

 

The Pentagon rejected Poland’s offer to give the United States its MiG-29 fighter jets for use by Ukraine.  This was a surprise and a rare public display of disharmony by NATO allies seeking to boost Ukrainian fighters while avoiding getting caught up in a wider war with Russia.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Poland’s proposal earlier Tuesday to fly the jets to the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany raised the concerning prospect of jets departing from a U.S. and NATO base to fly into airspace contested with Russia in the Ukraine war.

“We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one,” Kirby said in a statement. “It is simply not clear to us that there is a substantive rationale for doing it,” he said.

Any such decision would obviously be a morale booster for Ukraine as Russian attacks on its cities deepen the humanitarian catastrophe. But it also raises the risks of having a wider war.  As previously stated, the only way the U.S. could accept these planes is if the Ukrainian pilots were to get themselves to Poland and they were to fly the MIG 29’s to a Ukraine air field.

One senior U.S. diplomat said Poland’s announcement came as a surprise.

“To my knowledge, it wasn’t pre-consulted with us that they plan to get these planes to us,” said U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, who told lawmakers she learned of the proposal as she was driving to testify about the Ukraine crisis before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Ukraine has been pleading for more warplanes and Washington has been looking at a proposal under which Poland would supply Ukraine with the MiG-29s and in turn receive American F-16s to make up for their loss. Ukrainian pilots are trained today to fly the Soviet fighter jets.

The Polish Foreign Ministry announced the plan in a statement, which said the jets would be flown to Ramstein free of charge.

“At the same time, Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities,” it said.

The Polish government also appealed to other country owners of MiG-29 jets to follow suit.

Former Soviet-bloc NATO members Bulgaria and Slovakia also have Soviet made fighter jets in their air forces.

Poland’s decision to publicly float its plan came the day before Vice President Kamala Harris was scheduled to depart for Warsaw for talks with Polish officials. The disconnect is likely to cast an awkward layer to the talks, which were expected to focus largely on U.S. efforts to help Poland and other eastern European nations that have taken in some 2 million refugees since the war started less than two weeks ago.

The handover of Poland’s 28 Soviet-made MiG-29’s would signal Western resolve to do more to deter Russia.  Militarily, it would be unlikely to be a game changer.  The number of aircraft is relatively small. The MiG-29’s are also inferior to the more sophisticated Russian aircraft and could be easy prey for Russian pilots and Russian missiles.

Russia has warned that supporting Ukraine’s air force directly by the U.S. would be seen in Moscow as participating directly in the current conflict and could open up any suppliers to possible retaliation.  In other words, it could be the beginning of World War III.

It would also weaken Poland’s own air force at a time of heightened danger in Eastern Europe.  A transfer of the MiGs to Ukraine is fraught with complications as neither NATO nor the European Union want to be seen as directly involved in the transaction.

Copyright G. Ater 2022