Poland Agrees To Hand Over MiG-29 Fighter Jets To Aid Ukraine

[ouch]

F**kin' A!!!

I only wished that it were 200 of them.

Poland Offers To Give MiG-29 Fighter Jets To U.S. To Aid Ukraine—But Pentagon Calls The Idea Untenable

Poland is ready to transfer dozens of Soviet-era fighter jets to the United States so they can be made available to the Ukrainian military, it announced Tuesday, after officials in Ukraine pleaded with Western governments to provide warplanes to aid its fight against a Russian invasion.

 

[EnigmaO01]

F**kin' A!!!

I only wished that it were 200 of them.

Poland Offers To Give MiG-29 Fighter Jets To U.S. To Aid Ukraine—But Pentagon Calls The Idea Untenable

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Poland is ready to transfer dozens of Soviet-era fighter jets to the United States so they can be made available to the Ukrainian military, it announced Tuesday, after officials in Ukraine pleaded with Western governments to provide warplanes to aid its fight against a Russian invasion.

What's the deal with sending them to Ramstein Germany first? Maybe less likely to be attacked in Germany than in Poland?

Thoughts? The logistics would be interesting but I'm sure classified for a good reason.

 

[Rexedgar]

What's the deal with sending them to Ramstein Germany first? Maybe less likely to be attacked in Germany than in Poland?

Thoughts? The logistics would be interesting but I'm sure classified for a good reason.

The German transfer gives Poland plausible deniability?

 

[VySky]

If it’s war. Putin would bomb those planes where they sit.

That’s a good sign he hasn’t.

 

[MamboDervish]

What's the deal with sending them to Ramstein Germany first? Maybe less likely to be attacked in Germany than in Poland?

Thoughts? The logistics would be interesting but I'm sure classified for a good reason.

Ramstein is our US air base in Europe. They could be going there for many reasons. Service, tracking, avionics or targeting upgrades, adding or modifying weapons pylons, inflight refueling upgrades . . . . any and all of the above? And as you point out, probably classified for good reasons.

 

[gbg3]

I think it was Jennifer Griffin who said today that the U.S. was actually quite caught off guard by some aspects of the Polish plan/proposal.

 

[reflechissez]

I think it was Jennifer Griffin who said today that the U.S. was actually quite caught off guard by some aspects of the Polish plan/proposal.

Who's Jennifer Griffin and why does it matter that she said this?

 

[EnigmaO01]

The German transfer gives Poland plausible deniability?

I thought of that but it seems so obvious as not to provide that. Unless it was the media that leaked this out. Or one of our loser congress critters. We have a couple of senators with loose lips too as of late.

 

[EnigmaO01]

Ramstein is our US air base in Europe. They could be going there for many reasons. Service, tracking, avionics or targeting upgrades, adding or modifying weapons pylons, inflight refueling upgrades . . . . any and all of the above? And as you point out, probably classified for good reasons.

How much equipment do we have to service or upgrade Russian MIGS? Seems to me it would be quite limited.
Hopefully they are adding something very sophisticated to give the Uke pilots an edge.

 

[EnigmaO01]

Who's Jennifer Griffin and why does it matter that she said this?

It doesn't really matter but it is interesting.

 

[Lutherf]

How much equipment do we have to service or upgrade Russian MIGS? Seems to me it would be quite limited.

If they are going to be working with American AEW systems then it might be a good idea to have the right electronics packs installed.

 

[EnigmaO01]

If they are going to be working with American AEW systems then it might be a good idea to have the right electronics packs installed.

If you say so. That's above my pay grade. I used to load bombs and missliles on F-4 Phantoms so I'm a little dated and it wasn't avionics.

So you're saying there will be a good way to differentiate between a Ukraine Mig-29 and a Russian Mig-29 from a great distance?

 

[Lutherf]

If you say so. That's above my pay grade. I used to load bombs and missliles on F-4 Phantoms so I'm a little dated and it wasn't avionics.

So you're saying there will be a good way to differentiate between a Ukraine Mig-29 and a Russian Mig-29 from a great distance?

AEW (Airborne Early Warning) systems such as the E-3 Sentry require compatible secure communications with friendly aircraft. If you were loading bombs on F-4s then those F-4s had an electronics pack that did the same thing these will do. IFF systems will also be part of the package and that's how we tell a friendly plane from an unfriendly one.

 

[ouch]

What's the deal with sending them to Ramstein Germany first? Maybe less likely to be attacked in Germany than in Poland?

Others have responded with very good suggestions as to why those Migs will be delivered to Germany first. Another reason is that Poland does not wish to be a party to the Russia - Ukraine war. So, they're by-stepping this by doing it this way.

 

[Luce]

Others have responded with very good suggestions as to why those Migs will be delivered to Germany first. Another reason is that Poland does not wish to be a party to the Russia - Ukraine war. So, they're by-stepping this by doing it this way.

Pretty sure Poland has made a point of not being afraid of Russia.

 

[ouch]

Pretty sure Poland has made a point of not being afraid of Russia.

It doesn't seem to be a matter of being afraid or not, in which I agree that Poland isn't afraid of Russia. It has to do with how to handle arms supply to a non NATO country who is at war with big ole Russia. Poland chose not to directly deliver fighter jets to Ukraine. What it appears to have done, though, is making Germany that direct supplier of aviation - arms to Ukraine. Now, we'll learn soon what Russia squawks about that.

 

[Dayton3]

Ramstein is our US air base in Europe. They could be going there for many reasons. Service, tracking, avionics or targeting upgrades, adding or modifying weapons pylons, inflight refueling upgrades . . . . any and all of the above? And as you point out, probably classified for good reasons.

Most likely is that Poland wants the U.S. hands on this before giving them to Ukraine.

 

[Callen]

I think it was Jennifer Griffin who said today that the U.S. was actually quite caught off guard by some aspects of the Polish plan/proposal.

Did she, whoever she is, give any specifics? The US has been in negotiations for days on how to get the jets into the Ukraine as well as backfilling Polands contribution with American jets. They are very supportive of the initiative. Many, many reports on this.

 

[grip]

I'm all for arming the Ukrainians to the teeth but the west must still be careful not to get directly involved. Giving them US drones would also be a big benefit.

 

[Luce]

I'm all for arming the Ukrainians to the teeth but the west must still be careful not to get directly involved. Giving them US drones would also be a big benefit.

The drones the Turks gave them (I don't know if they're Turkish-built or not) seem to be working out nicely. More of that would be good.

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

If they are going to be working with American AEW systems then it might be a good idea to have the right electronics packs installed.

Timeframes probably don’t really allow for that. Getting them modified would take months

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

The drones the Turks gave them (I don't know if they're Turkish-built or not) seem to be working out nicely. More of that would be good.

Turkish built and they faced sanctions from the US and Canada on quite a few components due to Turkey attacking Kurds

Amazing on how quickly a country can go from a pariah to a hero

 

[grip]

The drones the Turks gave them (I don't know if they're Turkish-built or not) seem to be working out nicely. More of that would be good.

The US is afraid of giving anyone 1st generation tech but the Reapers are old enough to be let loose. 100 or so of those could create havoc on the Russian invasion convoys.

 

[Dayton3]

The US is afraid of giving anyone 1st generation tech but the Reapers are old enough to be let loose. 100 or so of those could create havoc on the Russian invasion convoys.

And that would fully justify Russian attacks on U.S. bases and facilities in the area.

 

[MamboDervish]

How much equipment do we have to service or upgrade Russian MIGS? Seems to me it would be quite limited.
Hopefully they are adding something very sophisticated to give the Uke pilots an edge.

?? I don't know? Do we know if their pylons can launch Sidewinders?

Simple electro/mechanical is more likely than "very sophisticated", because very sophisticated takes way too much time to retrofit, and may require training the pilots do not have. Whatever they're doing, they need to turn these things around in a hurry.