Month: November 2025

• Ukraine said on Monday that it signed an agreement to buy up to 100 Rafale F4s by 2035.
• It marks the French jet as the likely third aircraft for Kyiv’s future Westernized air force.
• The F-16, Gripen E, and Rafale F4 would be massive upgrades to Ukraine’s aging Soviet fleet.

It’s official: The Rafale F4 is set to be the third pillar of Ukraine’s new fighter fleet.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Monday that Kyiv has signed a letter of intent to acquire up to 100 of the French fighter jets over the next 10 years.

Under the new arrangement, Ukraine is also allowed to receive advanced French radars and eight French-Italian Surface-to-Air Missile Platform/Terrain air defense systems, each equipped with six launchers.

“This is a historic agreement. It is of great value that France is taking such a step toward achieving real, guaranteed security in Europe,” Zelenskyy said.

The agreement complements other commitments for his country to obtain the US-made F-16 and Sweden’s Gripen, making the trio the likely backbone of its future air force.

The Ukrainian president said in August that his country was aiming for its next fighter fleet to be fully Western for “full NATO integration.” Kyiv’s air force now operates primarily older Soviet-designed fighters, supplemented by a limited number of Western airframes acquired since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Sweden, France, and the US were publicly earmarked as source countries for Ukraine’s new fighters, but the types of aircraft and their expected quantities were only revealed in recent weeks.

Europe’s new fighters

Kyiv also signed a letter of intent with Sweden on October 22 to buy up to 150 JAS 39 Gripen E fighter jets.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian pilots are already flying Lockheed Martin F‑16 Fighting Falcons donated by European NATO members, along with several French Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters. Both are upgraded fourth-generation aircraft, and Ukraine has said it eventually needs a total of 128 F-16s to defend itself against Russia.

The Rafale and Gripen, however, would be a step up in modern capabilities for Ukraine.

Considered 4.5-generation aircraft, they’re equipped with advanced avionics, sensors, and electronic warfare systems but lack the powerful full-stealth capabilities of the 5th-generation F-35 Lightning II and F-22 Raptor.

Saab’s Gripen has widely been touted as one of Ukraine’s best options against Russia. Designed to fly from small, rough airstrips and require minimal maintenance, the Gripen is meant to be easily dispersible in a war where critical infrastructure would constantly be under bombardment.

The E variant is the Gripen’s latest version, with an upgraded single engine and new electronic warfare systems. With a takeoff weight of 16.2 tons, it offers 10 weapons hardpoints for missiles and bombs.

The twin-engine Dassault Rafale F4, meanwhile, has 14 hardpoints with a takeoff weight of 24.5 tons. The F4 variant entered French operational service in early 2024.

Still, Kyiv’s announcements so far are just initial agreements to purchase these modern fighters, and actual deliveries would depend on finalized export deals.

Delays and complications in fighter jet production are common, and Ukraine will also be joining a queue of clients waiting for their Rafales and Gripens. Sweden itself only received its first Gripen E last month, under a plan to field 60 of the new variants by 2030.

Dassault, meanwhile, makes fewer than four Rafales a month and said in October that it has a backlog of 233 of the aircraft to deliver.

• Larry Summers says he is stepping back from public life after emails show deeper ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
• The correspondence shows Summers sought advice from Epstein and made sexist remarks about women.
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren urged Harvard to sever ties with Summers over his friendship with Epstein.

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said that he would step back from public life after new emails showing the extent of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein surfaced.

“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,” he said in a statement to Business Insider on Monday. “I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”

Epstein was an American financier and convicted sex offender known for his elite social circle. In 2019, he killed himself in jail before his trial for sex-trafficking charges, which prosecutors said involved underage girls. Epstein’s social network over the years included prominent politicians and celebrities, including US Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, and Britain’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew.

The emails, showing years of personal correspondence between the two men, were released by the House Oversight Committee last week. They revealed that Summers, who was Treasury Secretary under Clinton and an advisor to Barack Obama, sought advice from Epstein on how he could romantically pursue a woman he called his mentee.

In a separate exchange, Summers suggested that women have a lower IQ than men. In 2005, similar remarks by Summers about women’s aptitude in mathematics compared with men prompted a public outcry and his resignation as Harvard’s president in 2006.

Summers had long been associated with Epstein. He flew on Epstein’s private plane, according to flight logs obtained by Gawker in 2015, and appeared on Epstein’s 2014 calendar, per scheduling emails obtained by Business Insider in 2023.

In Monday’s statement, Summers added that he will continue to fulfill his teaching duties but will step back from public commitments to “repair relationships with the people closest” to him. He teaches economics at Harvard University.

Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren called on Harvard to sever ties with Summers and put new pressure on the university to hold him accountable.

Warren, who spent nearly two decades teaching at Harvard Law School and has previously sparred with Summers over economic policy, told CNN earlier on Tuesday that Summers’ relationship with Epstein “demonstrates monumentally bad judgment.”

“If he had so little ability to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein even after all that was publicly known about Epstein’s sex offenses involving underage girls, then Summers cannot be trusted to advise our nation’s politicians, policymakers, and institutions — or teach a generation of students at Harvard or anywhere else,” she told CNN.

Warren’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Summers’ recent work outside Harvard included a post as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a contributor to Bloomberg, and a board member of OpenAI.

CAP confirmed to Business Insider that Summers’ work with the think tank ended. Bloomberg and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

He is married to Elisa New, the host and director of PBS’ “Poetry in America,” and the couple has six children.