We are poised to send fighter jets to Ukraine

NATO countries are making contingency plans to send fighter aircraft to Ukraine, military sources revealed last night.

- Marco Giannangeli

But the move would require Russia’s air force to threaten aerial domination for them to be deployed.

It follows a key meeting of the European Air Group at its UK headquarters in High Wycombe Air Command last week.

The defence club was originally formed by the UK and France following the first Gulf War, and now includes Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain.

All seven, including Britain, have agreed to make contingency plans to deploy a total of around 50 fourth-generation Eurofighter Typhoons or F-16 fighter jets or to provide training and logistics packages.

Sending the F-35 Lightning II, a fifth-generation Joint Strike Fighter, however, is “not on the table”, sources say.

“The view expressed at the meeting was that the Air Forces of these seven countries must be ready to act quickly if a political decision were taken to provide air cover,” added the source.

Last night, one former RAF Air Commodore dubbed the move – which would follow the agreement by Nato members to gift around 130 main battle tanks – as a “logical progression”, while another urged training to begin now.