Media: Decommissioned fighter jets of the Australian Air Force may be transferred to Ukraine

Australia, the United States and Ukraine are discussing the transfer of 41 Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F/A-18 Hornet fighters to the Ukrainian military. Earlier they were planned to be destroyed.

This was reported by The Australian Financial Review (AFR) with reference to its sources.

According to their data, the USA is open to the initiative of gifting decommissioned F/A-18 aircraft to Ukraine.

"The decommissioned F/A-18s are in a hangar at the RAAF base in Williamtown, outside Newcastle [New South Wales, Australia] and, if not sent to Ukraine, will either be destroyed or sold to private aviation company RAVN Aerospace for use them in the US as "adversaries" for training military aviators," AFR writes.

According to the publication, negotiations are ongoing. This was confirmed by Australian security expert Robert Potter, who advises the Ukrainian government. However, a specific agreement has not yet been finalized.

Another AFR source with knowledge of the situation said it "didnʼt make sense to destroy the perfectly serviceable planes, which he said could be ready within four months and used to repel a Russian invasion," the AFR reported.

• On May 23, the Pentagon announced that the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine will begin at least in a few months. And this is based on an optimistic scenario. However, this is quite a short period of time, as it usually takes more than two years to train a new American pilot to operate such an aircraft.
• F-16 will be delivered to Ukraine in units, not individually. At the initial stage, several dozen of these aircraft may be transferred. Earlier, the adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense Yuriy Sak said that Ukraine wants to receive 40 to 50 F-16 fighters to form three or four squadrons.
• German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on June 5 that the German government may reconsider its position on the possible supply of modern Western fighter jets to Ukraine.