Retired Air Marshal Greg Bagwell said another option for Western allies was to turn Ukraine’s forces into a formidable “backstop” by rearming Kyiv after a ceasefire to deter Russia.
Donald Trump also stopped short of publicly guaranteeing US airpower in Ukraine when he met the Prime Minister this week and said British troops “can take care of themselves”.
Bagwell, who policed no-fly zones in Iraq and commanded RAF jets in multinational operations in Syria and Libya, said the UN could run any peacekeeping mission if Nato didn’t, with non-European powers like Australia possibly forming part of a broader Western alliance.
RAF F-35B Lightning stealth jets over the English Channel (Photo: Joe Giddens/PA Wire)“You can put more in if you can have a rest period. You can put a squadron’s worth in now, and as long as someone’s prepared to put a squadron’s worth in a year later then you can rest that squadron.
However, he added scenarios that did not involve the US were “higher risk” with “potentially higher costs”.
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“If Russia was to incur into the agreed border and cross the line and injure American mineral workers or British or French troops, the idea that America would then stay out of that is pretty hard to fathom,” Bagwell added.
The RAF was more likely to use some of its 121 Typhoons rather than any of the 32 F-35B Lightning II jets due to their longer flying time and their use by Nato allies like Germany, Spain and Italy, he added.
RC-135W Rivet Joint electronic surveillance aircraft would also be deployed if Donald Trump rejects UK calls for the US to commit spy planes and satellite systems.
A 51 Squadron RAF RC-135W Rivet Joint aircraft at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada during Exercise Red Flag (Photo: : Sgt Neil Bryden RAF/ MOD)Nato could also possibly send surveillance planes from its E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control base in Geilenkirchen, Germany.
In September 2022, a Russian SU-27 fighter jet tried to shoot down one of the RAF surveillance planes with a crew of up to 30 after believing he had permission to fire.
“To what extent does that play the role of, if Russia comes, we’re going to attack you?” Bagwell said of any peacekeeping operation.
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Read More“There is a question here about how aggressive a peacekeeping force could or should be. My gut feel is, you want it to be relatively passive and to be able to extract itself or stay clear of a direct confrontation from Russia.”
“If you’re already in place, surveying it, then that’s probably not a bad thing,” he added.
“We currently put planes in Romania or the Baltics. Now we’re just talking about potentially putting them in in Ukraine.”
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