Ex-Colonel Outlines How Ukraine Can 'Lease' an Air Force From U.S.

A former U.S. military official has outlined a road map for Ukraine to pursue efforts to "lease out" a mercenary air force from the U.S. government as the country struggles to maintain air superiority in its war with Russia.

Writing for the Kyiv Post this week, Jeffrey Fischer, a former U.S. Air Force colonel and onetime defense official at the U.S. Embassy in Kosovo, suggested the Ukrainian Defense Ministry consider taking advantage of recent Pentagon initiatives to shore up its supply of aircraft against Russia's poorly trained but well-equipped aerial offensive.

In particular, Fischer suggested Kyiv could take advantage of a 2019 Defense Department program to outsource its aggressor air training squadrons to a handful of private companies that not only provide training for pilots but own the aircraft that would likely be deployed in combat.

While this is unprecedented, Fischer suggested that the pipeline could be used to lease out U.S.-owned aircraft to Ukraine's defense forces, all while solving the learning curve that would likely come with training those forces on technologically advanced equipment.

Not only would "leasing out" the equipment eliminate the need to "find" jets, he wrote, but the private companies involved would likely provide their own, well-qualified aircrew at a manageable cost.

All it would take is for the U.S. government to sign on the dotted line, which could be a realistic option at this point in the war, Fischer said.

Some on Capitol Hill have already broached the concept behind closed doors, he wrote. And while there are occasions in which the U.S. government denies equipment transfer requests from industry giants like Boeing and Lockheed Martin because of various concerns—diplomatic or logistical—he believes a similar proposal to "lease out" an air force is "likely to be an attractive option to many in D.C."

"The concept allows for a rapid, well-trained and cost-effective air force to confront Russia in the skies over Ukraine," Fischer wrote. "More importantly, it provides a 'degree of separation' from direct U.S. military involvement and is steps shorter than the U.S. entering the war."

Both facets of the discussion are worth exploring. The United States has been wary of escalating its involvement in the conflict, relying on transfers of cash and military supplies—amid a souring environment in the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives—to support the Ukrainian forces. A lease option is likely to save the U.S. government some money while allowing the U.S. to maintain the appearance of helping Ukraine in its defensive war.

The argument that the supply of planes would be for defensive purposes is there as well. For all its success on the ground, the Ukrainian military has so far been unable to enforce the integrity of its own airspace, heavily relying on low-flying aircraft and surface-to-air missile systems to police the skies over Ukraine and continue resisting what British intelligence has suggested is a poorly trained force on the Russian side, which has been unable to recuperate mounting losses in the field.

However, Ukraine, while it does have pilots, lacks the technology necessary to overcome even the relatively inferior aerial assault mounted by the Russians. That lack of airpower has resulted in what the Royal United Services Institute, an English think tank, described in November as serious casualties on the Ukrainian side primarily due to "being totally technologically outmatched and badly outnumbered."

The need for additional airpower, the institute suggested, was critical to helping defend Ukrainian airspace and, potentially, to shorten the duration of the war.

"The West must avoid complacency about the need to urgently bolster Ukrainian air-defence capacity," the institute wrote. "It is purely thanks to its failure to destroy Ukraine's mobile [surface-to-air missile] systems that Russia remains unable to effectively employ the potentially heavy and efficient aerial firepower of its fixed-wing bomber and multi-role fighter fleets to bombard Ukrainian strategic targets and frontline positions from medium altitude, as it did in Syria."

The institute went on: "The Ukrainian Air Force fighter force needs modern Western fighters and missiles to sustainably counter the [Russian air force]. Russian pilots have been cautious throughout the war, so even a small number of Western fighters could have a major deterrent effect."

Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense for comment.