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Why did the U.S. reject Poland's plan to give Ukraine its Soviet-era fighter jets?

"Anti and Pro, jets to Ukraine - Sending Old Fighter Jets to Ukraine Is a Terrible Idea
"EXPLAINER: Why does Ukraine need foreign warplanes?"

VIDEO - The political and logistical complications of Poland's proposal led to a quick rejection from Washington. 01:58

March 10, 2022, 10:33 AM AEDT
By Alex Seitz-Wald

WASHINGTON — Ukraine wants warplanes. Its allies have plenty. But getting fighter jets to Ukraine is much more complicated than it might seem.

On Wednesday, the Biden administration rejected a proposal from Poland that would have made its old Russian-made MiG fighters available to a U.S. base in Germany for potential handover to Ukraine, because it would be a “high risk” step that could ratchet up tensions with Russia, the Defense Department said.

[...]

Experts outside the government have noted that Ukraine hasn’t deployed many of the MiGs it already owns, which makes them wonder whether the country has the complex infrastructure needed to support the aircraft, from trained pilots and mechanics to extra parts, munitions and jet fuel.

The losses suffered by Ukraine’s air force in the Russian invasion have been compounded by “years of neglect and underfunding .. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11862 ,” according to the Congressional Research Service. “Most of Ukraine’s planes and air defense systems are over 30 years old.”

The country’s major air power success seems to have come largely from Turkish-made drones .. https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-leans-on-armed-drones-western-missiles-to-thwart-russian-invasion-11646343771 , not manned fighter jets.

Russia’s air force has suffered from its own apparent logistical limits; however, it still has more modern aircraft than MiG-29s, which first took to the air in the late 1970s.

“The broader thing is that this is probably all just a waste of time,” Bergmann said. “Would we just be putting Ukrainians up in 30-, 40-year-old fighter jets that are just basically flying coffins?”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-reject-polands-plan-give-ukraine-soviet-era-fighter-jets-rcna19396