The U.S. military-industrial corporation Lockheed Martin intends to increase the production of F-16 fighters amid talks about possible deliveries of aircraft to Ukraine. This was announced by the chief operating officer of the company, Frank St. John, in an interview to the Financial Times on Wednesday, January 25.
He said the company plans to ramp up production of F-16s in South Carolina to be able to resupply different countries that “choose to transfer [their fighters] to a third party as part of their assistance in the current conflict.” In addition, St. John pointed out that the corporation is not directly negotiating for deliveries of F-16 fighter jets to the Kiev regime.
Earlier on the same day, Der Spiegel magazine learned that after Western promises to supply Kiev with Leopard 2 tanks, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk requested fighter jets, warships and submarines. The article quotes German military expert Marie-Agnes Struck-Zimmermann to say this.