According to a report in the Australian Financial Review by Philip Coorey and Andrew Tillett, discussions are underway between Australia, the United States, and Ukraine regarding the potential transfer of 41 Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 Hornets to Kyiv. This move aims to fulfill part of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s request for fighter jets, rather than scrapping them as originally planned.
Sources have indicated that the United States is inclined to support the idea of gifting the F/A-18s to Ukraine. Since the United States owns the intellectual property rights to these retired jets, which have been replaced by F-35 Lightning IIs due to Australia’s order of 72 of these newer aircraft, Washington’s approval is necessary for the transfer.
Currently, the decommissioned F/A-18s are stored at the Williamtown RAAF base near Newcastle, Australia. If not sent to Ukraine, these aircraft would either be scrapped or sold to RAVN Aerospace, a private-sector aviation company in the United States. RAVN Aerospace intends to use them as “enemy” planes for military aviators’ training purposes. However, a separate source involved in the discussions agrees that destroying these fully functional aircraft would be illogical. They suggest that the F/A-18s could be operational within four months and employed to help Ukraine defend against the Russian invasion.