Tools.

This is coolbert:

I hope this is not actually being contemplated in a serious manner!!

This very well could set of World War III. For all that would mean.

A TRANSFER OF AMERICAN A-10 WARPLANES TO THE UKRAINIAN?

"Transfer three A-10 aircraft squadrons to Ukraine now"

“'Give us the tools, and we will finish the job,' spoke U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill in February 1941. Following this powerful speech, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt proposed and Congress approved the lend-lease program. 

LEND-LEASE Ukraine. We give them the weapons. They fight with them?

"The United States Air Force has deployment packages ready to go. The whole transfer to the Ukrainian Air Force could be completed in days after congressional authorization.

[....]

"'It [the A-10 warplane] is necessary to slow or stop the oncoming juggernaut of Russian armored forces. The United States has the most effective weapon for this role — the U.S. Air Force’s A-10 aircraft. It is available since the service wants to retire most of the 30-year-old fleet. The airplane was designed to operate in Europe from ill-prepared facilities. Pilot retraining is minimal. All that is needed is painting Ukrainian insignia and delivering the aircraft. This could be done in days.'"

That "package" of three squadrons [assuming the normal number of aircraft in a USAF squadron] would number seventy-two warplanes total! 

I would have to think a transfer to the Ukrainians would take longer than several days. Perhaps many months. Pilots would have to be checked-out as being able to fly the warplane [no matter how many hours of experience you have in other planes check-out still necessary]. Additionally merely being able to fly the A-10 [take-off and land] hardly is a demonstration of combat proficiency of the man at the stick. Normally lots of training is required before any pilot is considered to be combat-qualified. And what about normal maintenance? A plane of the complexity of the A-10 I assume needs A LOT of maintenance. Trained personnel needed! Ammunition expenditure expect to be massive. A constant resupply necessary. That too creates a further problem.

DON'T EXPECT SUCH A TRANSFER IF IT OCCURS TO GO OVER WELL WITH THE RUSSIANS. YOU WILL GOADING AND CHALLENGING THEM TO SUCH AN EXTENT THEY WILL FEEL COMPELLED TO TAKE STEPS AND MEASURES OF THEIR OWN. CATASTROPHE MAY BE THE RESULT.

NO Doctor! This is not a good idea! Perish the thought and quickly.

coolbert.