Press
The number of F-16 fighter jets that supporters of Ukraine are promising for the fight against Russia is constantly growing. Belgium is promising 30 aircraft.
Kiev – With its commitments, Belgium is taking the lead in the fighter jet coalition in Ukraine Warwhich also includes the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. All four countries announced in the second half of last year that they wanted to supply F-16 fighter jets from their own stocks to Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia. For the time being, however, figures and timetables remained vague and were constantly being adjusted. In the wake of a new wave of international arms deliveries, Belgium is now taking a decisive step forward.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo received the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday (28 May) in Brussels, where they signed an agreement on bilateral security cooperation. This provides that Belgium will provide Ukraine with a total of 30 F-16 fighter jets by 2028. The first of these are to be delivered “by the end of this year”, according to De Croos Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib.
F-16 fighter jets from Belgium: The first are expected to arrive in Ukraine by the end of 2024
The fact that the Belgian government and military had initially ruled out a delivery of F-16s to Ukraine was already dismissed by Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder during her visit to Ukraine in December 2023. At the time, she announced that she would indeed deliver F-16s, but not until 2025, when the first F-35s arrive, with which Belgium intends to replace the fighter jets being handed over. The latest specification of the support should therefore please Ukraine.
In February of this year, the Netherlands increased the number of F-16s it promised Ukraine from 18 to 24. This was announced by Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren. According to current Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the country has a total of 42 F-16s, all of which are to be replaced by F-35s. The Rutte government wants to send the remaining 18 fighter jets to Romania to train Ukrainian pilots. Eleven are already there, but it is unclear whether the training aircraft will later be handed over to Ukraine for use in the war.
Because of F-16 fighter jet plan: Netherlands puts together Patriot system
In the meantime, the Netherlands is looking for Patriot parts. As long as the majority of the F-16s are not in Ukraine to replace the missiles from Wladimir Putin out of the sky, ground-based air defense systems must take care of this – which are almost even rarer than the fighter jets. In a statement, the Dutch Ministry of Defense wrote: “The Netherlands will contribute core components and parts from its inventory and invites European countries to add components from their inventory.” A complete Patriot system with radar and launchers is to be put together and sent to Ukraine.
In Romania, Ukrainian pilots train not only in Dutch F-16s, but also in former Norwegian ones. In order to make room for F-35 fighter jets, Norway has already sold about half of its F-16 fleet to Romania, and the remaining 22 aircraft are to go directly to Ukraine. However, according to the Norwegian news portal Nettavisen only 12 of them are operational, the rest could serve as spare parts storage.
How many F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine? Figures from the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark
In the case of Denmark, the situation is very similar: the country is also phasing out its F-16 fleet in order to upgrade its air force with modern F-35s. It has already sold some of the machines to Argentina, but the rest – 19 fighter jets – will be sent to Ukraine, as the Danish ambassador in Kyiv, Ole Egberg Mikkelsen, told the Ukrainian media Euromaidan Press confirmed. Danish aircraft are likely to be the only F-16s already in Ukraine: The country’s Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, had announced in the summer of 2023 that the first six aircraft would be delivered around the turn of 2024 and eight more later that year.
Meanwhile, aircraft are also to come from a country that is not officially part of the fighter jet coalition: Greece wants to modernize its air force, which is made up of various models and get rid of 32 F-16s. The Greek news portal News break reported last April that it was “almost certain” that Athens would authorize a sale of the aircraft to Ukraine.
Greece may increase the amount of promised F-16 fighter jets
In Belgium, too, the question of whether Ukraine should be allowed to use Western weapons such as the F-16 fighter jets against targets on Russian soil was raised again. When signing the agreement with Zelensky, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo insisted that the weapons would only be used on Ukrainian territory and for defense. His Ukrainian guest again regretted this position: “I think that is unfair, but we, and that is a fact, cannot risk the support of our partners.”
Thus, Ukraine has so far been promised a total of 95 F-16s, to which 18 Dutch training planes in Romania and 32 aircraft from Greece could also be added. Global Firepower Index estimates that the Ukrainian Air Force currently has 40 fighter planes and 17 ground combat aircraft ready for use. In the best case scenario, the attacked country could have 202 combat aircraft at its disposal, assuming that all the promised aircraft find their way and that the Ukrainian Air Force is not significantly decimated.
#Countries #promised #Ukraine #total #F16 #fighter #jets