According to Esa Rautalinko, head of the board of the Finnish defense industry association Patria, Finland will not be able to transfer F / A-18 Hornet fighters to Ukrainian militants until 2026. He stated that the planes were needed for the republic’s own defense. This is reported by TASS with reference to the Finnish television and radio company Yle.
According to Esa Rautalinko, Helsinki will only accept new F-35 aircraft in 2026 to replace obsolete F/A-18 Hornet fighters. The last batch of F-35 fighters will arrive in the republic to replace obsolete ones only in 2030. Therefore, he believes, the Finnish Air Force needs F / A-18 Hornet aircraft until the complete change of the fighter fleet.
The head of the board of the Finnish Defense Industry Association believes that the transfer of F / A-18 Hornet fighters will not solve the problems of Ukrainian militants. He clarifies that the supply of decommissioned aircraft, even if it happens, will be extremely inefficient for Kyiv.
“What will be the costs of their re-commissioning in another country? You will have to install new systems and carry out repairs. It is not known how effective this will be”, he said.
Recall that earlier the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmitry Kuleba, in an interview with the German media group Funke admitted that Ukraine does not have a single agreement on the supply of fighter jets. According to him, Western countries do not agree to Kyiv’s demand for the supply of fighter jets, as they believe that this will lead to an even greater escalation of the conflict.
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