The U.S. Department of Defense said Monday it has no plans to send F-16 fighter jets scheduled for delivery to Taiwan to Poland instead, calling speculation raised by a recent American media report “not accurate.”

The comments by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby followed a report in the New York Times on Sunday, which said the Biden administration was exploring ways to supply Polish Soviet-made fighter jets to Ukraine to aid in its war against Russia, as Ukrainian pilots are more familiar with Russian-made jets.

One option was to send U.S.-made F-16s to Poland as replacements, the report said, though “Polish officials seemed less than enthusiastic.”

With the next tranche of U.S. F-16s for export set to go to Taiwan, those fighter jets were an option, the report said, though noting that American officials were reluctant to delay the Taiwan F-16 program.

When asked during a CNN interview on Monday whether F-16 jets meant for Taiwan could be provided to Poland, Kirby replied, “That rumor is not accurate.”

He did acknowledge, however, that Washington would not “stand in the way” if any nation did want to provide fighter jets to Ukraine.

In that regard, the U.S. has started to have conversations about how it could “backfill,” or replace jets transferred to Ukraine by another nation, including “what kind of aircraft, where would they come from, and how do you get them,” Kirby said.

But he emphasized that the U.S. did not have “any answers” at the moment, and that there was currently “no proposal on the table.”

Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed Monday that the administration has been consulting with Poland and other NATO allies on the possibility of transferring jets to Ukraine, but said the decision was ultimately up to Warsaw.

Aside from the question of how to transfer Polish jets to Ukraine, the issue of providing replacement jets to Poland was also logistically complex, given that procuring new planes and transferring weapons systems often takes years, Psaki said.

The U.S. government in 2019 approved the sale of 66 F-16Vs to Taiwan in an US$8 billion deal, with delivery expected to start in 2023 and extend through 2026.

The 66 F-16Vs will be deployed at Taitung Air Base in eastern Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Taiwan is also currently upgrading its 100-plus F-16A/B fighter jets to the more advanced F-16V format.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel