Lockheed Says They’re Ready For NATO to Provide Ukraine With F-16s

In an interview on Wednesday with the Financial Times Lockheed Martin's chief operating officer (COO,) Frank St. John, said there is "a lot of conversation about third party transfer of F-16s." St. John went on to say that his company will ramp up production of the jets so they'll be prepared to "backfill pretty capably any countries that choose to do third-party transfers to help with the current conflict." However, the United States and other NATO countries have been reluctant to provide Ukraine with fighter jets over concerns they could be used to strike Russian territory which Russia has laid out as one of their red lines. This is of course an issue for Lockheed because any sales or transfers to third countries of any American-made fighter jets must also be approved by the White House.