Two Polish Air Force MiG-29s fly alongside a B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at RAF Fairford, England, during a sortie in Poland, Feb. 24, 2022. (U.S. Air Force by Airman 1st Class Zachary Wright)
WASHINGTON: Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle used a hearing to pummel senior State and Defense Department officials today over the Biden administration’s lack of support for a proposed plan to transfer Polish fighter jets to Ukraine.
Over the past week, the White House has been engaged in conversations with the Polish government about a deal that would see Poland transfer its MiG-29s to Ukraine in exchange for American F-16s.
At this point, it appears the deal is dead, with Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby telling reporters on Wednesday that “we do not support the transfer of additional fighter aircraft to the Ukrainian Air Force at this time, and therefore have no desire to see them in our custody, either.”
That position clearly has not satisfied Republicans and Democrats from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who repeatedly criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the proposal during a hearing today.
“Time is of the essence,” said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who chairs the committee.
“The Ukrainians are getting bombarded and they do not have — as their country’s leaders suggest—they do not have the wherewithal to compete in the sky,” he said. “I don’t understand why we are not working efficiently to facilitate [an agreement].”
Jessica Lewis, the assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, responded that there were “some complexities” with the plan provided by the Polish government.
On Tuesday, Poland announced its intent on Tuesday to transfer the MiG-29s to Ramstein Air Base in Germany — which would essentially make the US responsible for the movement of the MiGs to Ukraine. Afterwards, US government officials have made clear the US had not been consulted ahead of time on that idea and would not take Polish jets into its own custody.
“When it comes to the planes … it’s a sovereign decision about the transfer,” Lewis said during the hearing.
Mara Karlin, assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans and capabilities, added that the United States is currently prioritizing the delivery of anti-armor and air defense capabilities to Ukraine.
“Ukraine’s Air Force does have several squadrons of mission capable aircraft in this contested airspace. But what we are seeing is that they really need greater air defense,” she said. “We are trying to provide everything we can that really helps them with air defense, and we don’t see significant effectiveness tied to those [Polish] airplanes specifically.”
Karlin’s comments echoed those of US European Command head Gen. Tod Wolters, who also serves as NATO’s top military commander. On Wednesday, Wolters said the “transfer of MiG-29 aircraft will not appreciably increase the effectiveness of the Ukrainian Air Force.”
But several Democrats and Republicans on the committee criticized the Biden administration for giving up on the deal, saying that the United States should be working to provide Ukraine with weaponry like the MiG-29s that Ukrainian leaders say would be useful.
“If it turns out they can’t use them, so be it,” said the committee’s top Republican Jim Risch, who represents Idaho. “But I’d hate to be in the position where we have things that they can defend themselves with, and we won’t give them the tools.”
In one heated exchange, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, pressed Karlin on whether the administration withdrew its support of the proposed agreement based on fears that it could anger Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“They [Ukraine] think they need planes,” he said. “Are you saying the only reason that the Department of Defense is against providing these MiG-29s to Ukraine is that you know better than them what they need to defend themselves?”
Karlin responded that the US is focused on giving weapons to Ukraine that it could use immediately while trying not to further escalate tensions in Eastern Europe.
While some lawmakers were more conciliatory, they also expressed confusion about why the US had stepped away from a deal that it had seemed to support just days earlier. (It is worth noting that Poland could choose to donate the MiGs directly, without the US as a third party, if it so wished.)
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, said she was disappointed in the administration’s response, which she believed had not done enough to explain why the US wouldn’t facilitate the transfer of fighters to Ukraine.
“If there is a good answer for why we’re not doing this, help Congress understand that,” she said.
At another point during the hearing, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., urged Karlin and Lewis to provide more details about what exactly made the delivery of additional MiG-29s to Ukraine a suboptimal option.
“Can we walk through this a little bit in terms of just the logistics of what it takes to get a Mig-29 out of Poland, get it prepared, getting pilots that would be Ukrainian to be able to get them somewhere, and then to find locations within Ukraine where they could safely land, be equipped to attack, find the appropriate equipment and weapons systems and then the command and control to get it to where they could be effective?” he asked
Karlin acknowledged that there are a “whole lot of logistics” that Poland would have to work through, should it choose to transfer the aircraft.
“Of course, it is a sovereign decision by Poland,” she said.
AI can make logistics data as valuable as intelligence or operational data for mission success
Valuable intelligence insights can be gleaned from logistics or flight-test data when artificial intelligence or machine learning is applied.
Army leader dismisses House proposal for drone branch creation
“Operating and defending against the drone threat is something that will be experienced by, you know, all formations at multiple echelons,” said Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo.
