The US Air Force in Europe and Africa commander James Hecker did not call F-16 useless for Ukraine. The general noted that American fighter jets will provide additional capabilities to the Armed Forces on the battlefield, but will not be a panacea in the fight against the invaders.
Russian media circulated a quote from the US Air Force in Europe and Africa commander James Hecker, stating that the American general allegedly recognized the complete uselessness of F-16 fighters for the Ukrainian Forces. By maliciously misinterpreting Hecker’s quote, pro-Kremlin media reported that modern American aircraft will not be able to help Ukraine, will not help counter Russian weapons and will be destroyed by Russia.
The Russian disinformation is based on an actual quote from James Hecker, the commander of US Air Force Europe and Africa, taken from his August 18 speech at the Defense Writers Group. Hecker’s speech block was dedicated to the Ukrainian counteroffensive and the rearmament of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with modern American equipment.
During the speech, James Hecker did not say anything about the “uselessness” of the F-16 for Ukraine. It is a Russian fake. On the contrary, answering the question about the advisability of transferring American fighters to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Commander emphasized that the F-16 would give the Ukrainian army a number of advantages, and that he himself, in the event of a war, would prefer to use modern American F-16.
“MiG-29s are pretty capable aircraft. If I went to war would I rather be in a MiG29 or an F-16? I’d rather be in an F-16. What the F-16 will give them is, it’s going to be more interoperable with the current weapons that we’re giving them now. So right now weapons that we are giving them have to be adapted to go on a MIG-29 or go on a SU-27 or something like that. The F-16, it’s already interoperable with, so that will help out and give them added capability. But it’s not going to be the silver bullet and all of a sudden they’re going to start taking down SA-21s because they have an F-16,” Hecker said.
So, US Air Force in Europe and Africa Commander Hecker did indeed note that fighter jets will not be a “silver bullet” against the Russian army, which has built an air defense system on the territory of Russia. Ukrainian F-16s will not fly there. At the same time, the F-16 will be a useful tool for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to de-occupy and defend Ukrainian territory.
The Russian story about the “uselessness” of Western weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine is a continuation of the Kremlin’s large-scale narrative regarding military aid from Ukraine’s allies. The Russian media are spreading disinformation about the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine, trying to prove the “inefficiency” of the Western aid provided to Ukraine to repel Russian aggression. A detailed breakdown of this narrative can be found in this, this, and this StopFake stories.
