According to CNN, a senior Defense Department official has opposed giving Ukraine the F-16s and training it needs right now because of the time involved, the cost and Ukraine’s most pressing priorities as the war winds down a year.

US Deputy Defense Secretary Colin Kahl said it will take 18 months to deliver F-16s to Ukraine and train pilots to fly the fourth-generation fighters.

The cost of such an operation would quickly deplete the money allocated for US aid to Ukraine, Kahl said, given that the F-16 is not one of Kyiv’s top three priorities at the moment.

“It’s hard for me to tell any member of Congress or the American people that this dollar spent right now is best spent on the F-16,” Kahl said at a House Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday on oversight of U.S. aid to Ukraine.

Kahl said that Ukraine’s top three priorities remain air defense, artillery and armored vehicles, something he said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi emphasized to President Joe Biden during their meeting last week in Kyiv.

The cost of sending 36 older F-16s to Ukraine, about half of what the U.S. Air Force estimates Ukraine will eventually need to replace its Soviet-era fighters, would cost about $2 billion to $3 billion, Kahl said.

He added that equipping Ukraine with additional F-16s will take three to six years.

Kahl also noted that Ukraine can receive different fighters, such as the British Tornado or the Swedish Gripen, which require completely different training. According to him, “it makes no sense” to train Ukrainians on the F-16 system if they might not get it.

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