Milley: It Would Take Years, Billions of Dollars for Ukraine to Match Russian Airpower
"Ten F-16s are $2 billion. So, the Russians have hundreds of fourth and fifth-generation airframes. If they [the Ukrainians] are going to try to match the Russians, one for one or even two to one, you are talking about a large number of aircraft," Milley said during a press briefing.
"That's going to take years to train the pilots, years to do the maintenance and sustainment, years to generate that degree of financial support to do that. You're talking way more billions of dollars than has already been generated."
Instead of supplying Ukraine with expensive aircraft, Milley suggests focusing on air defenses, on the blocking and tackling sort of offensive combined arms maneuvers, i.e., artillery, as well as on long- and short-range artillery.
On Sunday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States will permit its European partners to begin training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets and provide the necessary tools for that purpose, while the timeline for when the jets will reach Ukraine still remains unclear.
Earlier in July, Pentagon’s Joint Staff Director for Operations Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims II said that the conditions on the battlefield in Ukraine were not "ideal" for using F-16 fighter jets given that Russia continues to possess air defense capabilities.