LMT - Biden responds to inquires about F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine

Will the U.S. send F-16 jets to Ukraine to help in its war against Russia? "No," President Biden told reporters, ruling out the fourth-generation fighters.

Some believe that the decision might eventually be reversed - especially given pressure from Poland and other NATO allies - which could be a boon to defense players like Lockheed Martin ( NYSE: LMT ). In fact, there has already been several times that the U.S. administration was resistant to a particular weapon platform, only to approve it after rounds of negotiations ( M1 Abrams tanks and the Patriot missile defense system ).

Emmanuel Macron is also set to meet Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov today in Paris, where such requests may be on the table, after the French president confirmed that "by definition, nothing is excluded" in terms of military assistance.

"We don't see any signs that President Putin and rules in Moscow are preparing for peace," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg added during a trip to South Korea. "We see the opposite. We see that they are preparing for more war, that they are mobilizing more soldiers, more than 200,000, and potentially even more than that. They are actively acquiring new weapons, more ammunition, ramping up their own production, but also acquiring more weapons from other authoritarian states like Iran and North Korea."

For further details see: