Ukraine gets first F-16 fighter jet delivery from NATO after long wait
The first delivery of F-16 fighter jets from NATO allies has arrived in Ukraine.
The US-made warplanes are intended to give the battle-weary nation a much-needed boost as it struggles to end Russia’s air dominance.
The delivery came just ahead of the deadline for the transfer of fighters, and it wasn’t yet clear whether Ukrainian pilots will be able to jump into the cockpits and enter the battle — or more training and preparation will be required.
The number of jets included in the delivery was not immediately known, but a source told Bloomberg the total was “small.”
President Biden finally approved sending the warplanes to the region in May after repeated pleas from NATO allies and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The US is outfitting the fleet with cutting-edge American-made weapon systems, ensuring the approximately 80 jets coming from Denmark, Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands will be well equipped and generously stocked with munitions.
The Pentagon will send Ukraine AGM-88 HARM air-to-ground missiles, small-diameter bombs and long-range versions of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, which convert “dumb” bombs into smart weapons, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The first tranche of Ukraine fighter pilots have graduated from the European F-16 Training Center in the Netherlands.
Training has been a piecemeal process that’s taken place over several countries — and there aren’t quite enough Ukrainian pilots at the moment, which limits how many F-16s can actually be sent to the embattled country.
But the US wants to expand training opportunities by letting Ukrainian pilots learn their craft on American bases in the United States, according to the Journal.
Those pilots will see far less training than F-16 pilots in other nations — they must learn everything they need to know inside a year, as opposed to the four years a Danish pilot would take.
And instead of spending time with their unit before deployment, “these guys are going to go directly into combat,” the US official said.
Although the arrival of the F-16s will significantly boost Kyiv’s military capabilities, the aircraft are unlikely to turn the tide of the war on their own, foreign leaders concede.
“It’s an important addition,” said Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide. “It’s not in itself changing the war.”
There’s also questions about whether they’ll be used as interceptors — hunting Russian planes and forcing Moscow’s air force away from the front — or as ground support meant to bolster Ukrainian troops on the ground.
“It will not be a silver bullet,” said Folland, the Norwegian general. “But if you have F-16s with long-range weapons, you will push the Russian air force further away and that is the most important thing.”
