Its not just F18s. Western militaries have hilariously large stockpile of old hardware (usually missiles/guns/weapons or logistics vehicles, not weapons platforms like the F18) that are just sitting there, rotting in storage.
It makes no sense to me. Its not like theres a taboo against arming Ukraine anymore, or that the US is going to ever need 10,000 old air-to-air missiles.
They're going to be decommissioned eventually, giving them to Ukraine just speeds up the decommissioning process and saves taxpayers money. A Win-Win for everyone save some Wagner mercenaries and unfortunate mobiks.
The West pretty much decided that Russia invading Ukraine is "bad," and if they want to be pacifist or anti interventionalist then they need to commit to that instead.
Otherwise, there's no point in holding back low cost support because of the 0.1% chance these countries will need their massive land war surplus. That is incredibly selfish, and for Europeans in particular, it cleary isn't necessary for any opponent they would border (like Russia) in a defensive war.
Hasn't that been tried for the past many years, many times already?
Putin invaded Ukraine in 2014 and took a big chunk. There was lots of talking encouraging of deescalation and what happened?
Putin went for the head shot, attempting to take over the whole country.
As far as he's concerned, the only deescalation is when he controls all of Ukraine, and also any other countries or parts of countries where he's issued people Russian passports.
The article says that the US needs to provide re-export permission. It’s likely this won’t be granted.
Given Australia is an extremely close US ally, it’s likely these particular F/A-18’s contain top secret components that are not authorised for export to Ukraine.
They also may be stored in an airworthy condition, as a tactical solution for any major escalation in the APAC region.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 53.2 ms ] threadIt makes no sense to me. Its not like theres a taboo against arming Ukraine anymore, or that the US is going to ever need 10,000 old air-to-air missiles.
And while they disappeared, endless war emerged.
Or was that fate only considered for other people?
Using force to stop someone from using violence against you is not the same as using violence to get your way.
The West pretty much decided that Russia invading Ukraine is "bad," and if they want to be pacifist or anti interventionalist then they need to commit to that instead.
Otherwise, there's no point in holding back low cost support because of the 0.1% chance these countries will need their massive land war surplus. That is incredibly selfish, and for Europeans in particular, it cleary isn't necessary for any opponent they would border (like Russia) in a defensive war.
Putin invaded Ukraine in 2014 and took a big chunk. There was lots of talking encouraging of deescalation and what happened?
Putin went for the head shot, attempting to take over the whole country.
As far as he's concerned, the only deescalation is when he controls all of Ukraine, and also any other countries or parts of countries where he's issued people Russian passports.
Given Australia is an extremely close US ally, it’s likely these particular F/A-18’s contain top secret components that are not authorised for export to Ukraine.
They also may be stored in an airworthy condition, as a tactical solution for any major escalation in the APAC region.