US F-35s over Ukraine - Pentagon made a statement

8 months ago
22

The US has denied flying F-35s over Ukraine after Singapore’s Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen claimed that the advanced fighter jets were being used to monitor Russian troops in the region.
Eng Hen made the remarks last Wednesday while speaking in the national parliament about the importance of long-term planning in the defense industry. He in particular mentioned that Singapore was closely evaluating the US-made F-35, especially when it comes to its use in real-world conditions.
He noted that the US has used the F-35 not only to target Islamic State terrorists in the Middle East but also “to locate and identify surface-to-air missile sites of Russian units in Ukraine,” adding that this reconnaissance was later shared with NATO members. He did not say whether an F-35 ever entered Ukrainian air space or if flights were carried out over NATO territory.
A spokesperson for the Pentagon declined to comment on the minister’s remarks but stressed that “I can confirm that the US does not fly F-35s in Ukraine.”
Last March, the website C4ISRNET reported, citing Colonel Craig Andrle, the commander of 388th Fighter Wing, that the US used F-35 to gather reconnaissance on “threats” in Ukraine and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. The fighters “were able to locate and identify surface-to-air missile sites and pass that information to the rest of the coalition,” the article said.
However, while Andrle stressed that F-35 could be a formidable war asset without firing a single shot due to its intelligence-gathering capabilities, it sometimes struggled to snoop on Russian positions. The colonel recalled that the F-35 had failed to identify a Russian S-300 missile system because it was potentially “operating in a war reserve mode that we haven’t seen before.”
Since the Ukraine conflict began in February 2022, NATO has increased its air presence in Eastern Europe, deploying additional fighters and surveillance aircraft.

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