The British government's reported plan to send Apache helicopters to Ukraine would not be an immediate boon to its defense against Russia, retired Brigadier Gen. Blaine Holt said Monday on Newsmax.
Appearing on "Wake Up America," Holt said the Apache helicopters are a "very complex, very complicated system."
"This is a little bit more exuberance … over this weapon system than there probably should be," Holt said. "And already we're starting to see signs from the Ministry of Defense in the U.K. that they're starting to walk back the reporting that Apache is imminent to Ukraine."
The state-of-the-art Apache AH64 E is equipped with deadly missile controls that can reportedly "detect more than 250 targets at a time from over 10 miles away." They also are reportedly able to destroy multiple targets in seconds.
But it's no simple chopper to operate, Holt said.
"To be qualified in one — just at a basic level — would take about a year," he said. And the "new exposure" to Western systems involved in the Apache's handling — and "to actually get ready to employ the weapon in combat" — would take an additional six months, he said.
Holt said the logistics involved in getting troops trained and ready for the task would be "enormous."
Ukrainian pilots will reportedly soon begin United Kingdom-based training for the helicopters — and a similar instructional plan will play out in the United States — with up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers set for training at Fort Sill in Oklahoma.
The U.K.'s Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, reportedly shot down the reports it will send the Apache attack helicopters to Ukraine.
Holt also weighed in on a disparaging comment from former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev about U.S.-Japan relations as reflecting the Kremlin's "desperate" state.
Medvedev on Saturday accused Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of shameful subservience to the U.S. and suggested he should ritually disembowel himself.
"This is another colorful statement from Medvedev, who has threatened us with everything from nuclear weapons to encouraging crime on the battlefield — acts against humanity," Holt said, dismissing the remark as "just more hyperbole out of Russia."
"This does speak to a Kremlin that is extremely desperate [and] has internal political fractures," Holt said. "It does not mean the lethality that they're bringing to the battlefield won't be felt by the Ukrainians, unfortunately."