By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
It’s now official: Ukrainian pilots will take to the skies of their homeland in F-16s in the next couple of months.
The US, Dutch and Danish governments made the announcement Wednesday as NATO continued its meetings in Washington. Planes also will be coming from Norway and Belgium.
“Those jets will be flying in the skies of Ukraine this summer to make sure that Ukraine can continue to effectively defend itself from the Russian aggression,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. According to a statement from the three governments, the Netherlands and Denmark have begun transferring the fourth-generation fighters to Ukraine.
Eventually, Ukraine will get more than 60 F-16s. In the US, Ukrainian pilots and ground crews began training at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, Arizona last October. They’re also being trained in the Netherlands and Denmark.
The training has involved fighter fundamentals, how to use the plane’s weapons and combat maneuvering. Still, the pipeline of pilots is not exactly robust. According to Reuters, the head of Ukraine’s parliamentary commission on arms and munitions says there that by the end of the year there will be roughly 20 pilots ready to fly the F-16.
Ukraine’s air force flies Soviet-era planes – the Mig-29 and three Sukhoi models. The F-16s have better technology that would allow them to target Russian jets, bombs and missiles. But, while the F-16 agreement made headlines when it was announced a year ago, it may not have the anticipated impact, unless Ukraine can establish air superiority.
And that may not happen unless there are fifth-generation, stealthy aircraft – or large numbers of fourth-gen planes like the F-16.
Of course, Russia, despite its much larger air force, hasn’t been able to establish air superiority either. A large of that is because Ukraine has built an effective air-defense system, using weapons from the West such as the Patriot. Plus, according to the Pentagon, Russia has been using only a fraction of its estimated 773 combat aircraft. That could be because the planes are not operational, or that Russia is risk-averse when it comes to sending its planes over heavily-defended areas.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been publicly stressing the need for more air-defense aid from the West, saying the country needs at least seven more Patriot systems to defend itself.
In a speech this week at the NATO summit, President Biden said Ukraine will get five more air defense units, and that Ukraine will be at “the front of the line” when the US exports missile interceptors.
Originally, Biden was reluctant to allow NATO countries to send F-16s to Ukraine, fearing it could lead to Russian retaliation. In January, 2023 he flatly ruled out the move. Several months later, Biden reversed himself and approved donating the jets.
The Netherlands had already planned to phase out its fleet of F-16s. The Dutch have begun receiving fifth-generation F-35s to replace them. Some of the new planes will be used to carry nuclear weapons.
