The war in Ukraine isn’t likely to end soon, because Russia is gaining ground, making more munitions, and getting more help from China, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told lawmakers May 2. “We assess that President [Vladimir] Putin thinks that domestic and international trends are in his favor,” Haines told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Putin is “reconstituting” Russia’s strength after a disastrous first two years of the war, which have seen more than 300,000 Russian casualties and cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Haines added. Given Russia’s harsh tactics and ..read more

NATO Allied Air Command is making moves now for its member nations’ air forces to be able to service each others’ fighters, fly them with each others’ weapons, and integrate more closely than they have in decades, a top official said April 24—ahead of an influx of F-35s and a coming wave of sixth-generation fighters.  Interoperability has long been a cornerstone of NATO. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has charged the effort with a new urgency unseen since the end of the Cold War, NATO Allied Air Command’s Deputy boss, RAF Air Marshal Johnny Stringer, said at an event hosted ..read more

The Space Force must invest in high-level training based on the lessons learned from an unprecedented level of electronic warfare (EW) used by both Russia and Ukraine in the conflict there, one of the service’s top EW leaders said on April 24. “What we have seen in the Ukraine-Russia conflict is more EW than we have ever seen before,” Col. Nicole Petrucci, the commander of the USSF’s combat-ready forces as head of Space Delta 3, said during an AFA Warfighters in Action event. “We’ve actually been studying this very carefully to see what’s going on to see how we can help or not help—and ..read more

The Russian air force has lost just one-tenth of its fleet while many of its military capabilities remain largely unaffected after more than two years of war in Ukraine, the top U.S. commander in Europe told Congress on April 10.  “We do not see significant losses in the air domain, especially their long-range and strategic aviation fleets,” Army Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, the head of U.S. European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. “Russia’s strategic forces, long-range aviation, cyber capabilities, space capabilities ..read more

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III warned March 19 that Ukraine could fall to Russia if the U.S. does not come through with more military assistance. “Today, Ukraine’s survival is in danger,” Austin told reporters at a press conference at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. “America’s security is at risk. And they don’t have a day to spare, either.” Austin’s remarks came as he and Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were in Europe to meet with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a roughly 50-member coalition organized by the U.S. to aid to Kyiv in its defense ag ..read more

Both Ukraine and Russia are stretched economically and militarily by their war, which could end as early as next year due to exhaustion of resources, a battlefield innovation, or an external event that undermines one side, expert panelists at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event said Feb. 23. The panelists also agreed that timely aid for Ukraine—particularly longer-ranged weapons—is in the urgent national interest of the U.S., which could face dire “main street” consequences if Russia prevails in the conflict. Eliot Cohen, who holds the Arleigh Burke chair at CSIS and le ..read more

The U.S. plans to train 12 Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s this fiscal year, said an Air National Guard official, providing new details about the high-profile program.  Eight of those pilots are currently undergoing training, Air National Guard officials say. Four more are also set to be trained before the end of fiscal 2024, Capt. Erin Hannigan of the Arizona National Guard added. Ukraine has long appealed for F-16s to augment its small fleet of Soviet-era planes as it strives to hold the line against Russian forces in what has become a bloody war of attrition. The U.S.-made plan ..read more

The U.S. transferred a record $80.9 billion worth of military equipment and services to other countries in fiscal 2023, a 55.9 percent increase over the fiscal 2022 level of $50.9 billion, according to the U.S. State Department. “This is the highest annual total of sales and assistance provided to our allies and partners,” a State Department release said. The total marks progress in State’s goal of accelerating FMS cases after an internal review last year of how the process could be sped up. Of the overall figure, $62.25 billion was funded by “U.S. ally and partner nations,” while the r ..read more

As Ukraine awaits the delivery of F-16s in 2024, a U.S. defense official revealed new details on the training of Ukrainian pilots and maintainers in America. There are currently four Ukrainian pilots undergoing F-16 training in the United States, the official told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The instruction is occurring at Morris Air National Guard Base, Ariz., in Tucson, where they are training with the 162nd Wing, the U.S. Air Force’s dedicated foreign F-16 training unit. Several other pilots are undergoing English-language training, the defense official added, while approximatel ..read more

The U.S. and Western allies expect the Ukrainian Air Force to achieve “initial operating capability” on F-16s by the end of this year, a senior Pentagon official said Jan. 23. F-16 pilot training by the U.S. and European countries is “on track,” assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs Celeste Wallander told reporters. But the effort to provide Kyiv with the stalwart American fighter is complex one, she said. “We are aiming to provide an initial operating capability for Ukraine with its F-16 program in 2024, which would entail trained pilots, the platforms, but in ..read more