Other analysts are wary of the Biden administration continuing to increase its involvement in the war. Daniel Davis, a retired Army officer and senior fellow with Defense Priorities, said that it is unreasonable to expect that Ukrainian pilots can master the F-16 in just a few months and that the continued threat of Russian air defenses makes it unlikely that the jets are a game changer. “Even American F-16 pilots would struggle against Russian air defense,” he said. “There’s no reason to think that they’re going to be impervious to that.” Davis said he does not believe the provision of F-16s alone would prompt Russia to escalate its war, but if Ukraine threatens to take back the Crimean Peninsula that Russia annexed illegally in 2014, Moscow could take drastic measures. “This is a different set of rules, and if you don’t realize that you’re dealing with a nuclear power, you are putting us in danger,” Davis said. “It’s reckless to the highest degree.”
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