Pentagon rejects Poland’s offer to transfer fighter fleet for Ukraine

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Polish minister of defense on Wednesday that the U.S. is not interested in participating in its plan to transfer its fight jets to the U.S., who would them give them to Ukraine.

The Polish government announced Tuesday that it was prepared to immediately transfer its MiG-29s to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The Pentagon responded that the proposal did not appear tenable, and after Austin’s call, DoD announced it would not play a role in such a transfer.

“Secretary Austin thanked the minister for Poland’s willingness to continue to look for ways to assist Ukraine, but he stressed 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,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

The U.S. intelligence community’s opinion figured into the decision, Kirby said.

While the U.S. and others have sent military aid to Ukraine, fighter jets “may be mistaken as escalatory,” Kirby said. “That could result in significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO.”

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From the Pentagon’s point of view, anti-air and anti-armor missiles are doing a good job of slowing Russia’s assault on Ukraine.

“We believe the best way to support Ukrainian defense is by providing them the weapons and the systems that they need most to defeat Russian aggression, in particular, anti-armor … and we know that they are being used with great effect.”

Further, Kirby added, it’s the Pentagon’s assessment that given Russia’s widespread anti-aircraft capabilities, adding fighter jets to Ukraine’s inventory will have little payoff for the high risk involved.

A defense official at Ukraine’s embassy in Washington D.C. declined comment.

Whether Poland wants to provide aid directly to Ukraine is a separate issue, he added, as they’re free to provide security assistance on their terms.

“What I’m talking about today is this particular proposal about the MiG-29s … we believed it was important to lay flat our concerns about that and that’s what we’ve done here,” Kirby said.

Military Times senior managing editor Howard Altman contributed to this report.