Czech Jets Could Free Up Ukraine's F-16s To Do What They Do Best: Bomb The Russians
The Czech president once again teases a donation of Aero L-159s
The Czech Republic is, once again, teasing Ukraine with a possible donation of light combat aircraft.
“The Czech Republic can in relatively short time provide several medium combat planes, which are highly effective in fighting drones, and I believe we will manage to quickly and successfully conclude this issue,” Czech Pres. Petr Pavel told Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Friday.
Pavel first proposed a transfer of Czech-made Aero L-159s back in 2023, but nothing came of the proposal. Two years later, the Czech Republic is less staunchly pro-Ukraine.
The new government of Prime Minister Andrej Babis has allowed the Czech-led ammunition initiative, which supplies artillery shells to Ukraine, to continue—but Babis has also pledged to end direct Czech funding of the multi-national initiative.
It’s unclear whether and how an L-159 donation would work given Babis’ hostility toward Ukraine’s war effort. But if the Czechs do give the Ukrainians some of the roughly two dozen of the single-engine, subsonic L-159s currently in Czech air force service, they could—as Pavel stated—be useful drone-hunters.
