On August 20 the Netherlands and Denmark introduced that they’d donate as much as 61 F-16 fighters to Ukraine after the completion of pilot coaching, with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen confirming her nation would supply 19 plane. These would “hopefully” embrace six round new yr, eight extra in 2024, and the remaining 5 in 2025, which she stated have been an indication of Denmark’s “unwavering assist on your nation’s battle for freedom.” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated the Netherlands had 42 F-16s its fleet, however didn’t specify a quantity to be donated or a timeline for doing so. “Right now we will announce that the Netherlands and Denmark decide to the switch of F-16 plane to Ukraine and the Ukrainian air drive,” Rutte said in a joint press convention with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, stating that the plane could be handed over from Danish stockpiles as soon as “the situations for such a switch have been met.” Each Denmark and the Netherlands have been among the many first shoppers for the F-16 round 40 years in the past through the Chilly Battle, and are at the moment phasing the plane out of service and integrating its direct successor the F-35A into service as companions within the F-35 program.
Though F-16 deliveries are set to start in 2024, a viable drive able to main operations isn’t anticipated to be fashioned earlier than 2027 in response to the most recent assessments by U.S. Air Power Normal James Hecker, who heads U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), NATO’s Allied Air Command, and U.S. Air Forces Africa (AFAFRICA). With Ukrainian pilots at the moment present process language coaching in Britain, Hecker noticed concerning their state: “They’re younger pilots that hardly have any hours in any respect. So they are not at the moment combating the struggle… After which they are going to get somewhat bit extra coaching on propellers, after which go right down to France and fly within the [Dornier Alpha Jets] for somewhat bit, that each one goes to take time… And that is in all probability not going to occur earlier than the tip of the yr. In order that takes some time to make that occur. In order that’s why it should be a minimum of till subsequent yr till you see F-16s in Ukraine.” Ukraine is unlikely to have sufficient pilots capable of fly F-16s in fight at wherever close to their potential earlier than 2027, he noticed, stating: “You will get proficient on some weapons methods pretty rapidly. It takes some time to construct a few squadrons of F-16s and to get their readiness excessive sufficient and their proficiency excessive sufficient. This could possibly be 4 or 5 years down the highway.”
The US has been way more hesitant than lots of its European allies concerning F-16 transfers to Ukraine, with the Chilly Battle period jets nonetheless taking part in a significant position within the U.S. Air Power and being marketed for export that means the repetitional harm from main losses in Ukraine could be a extremely unwelcome improvement. The F-16’s lack of stealth capabilities and far decrease manoeuvrability means the plane are anticipated to be a minimum of as susceptible as MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters Ukraine at the moment flies, however with out the advantages of of having the ability to function from makeshift airfields as Soviet jets have been constructed to do. Whereas trendy F-16 variants such because the F-16 Block 70/72 could be a possible sport changer for the air struggle with tier superior AESA radars and AIM-120D missiles, the older Chilly Battle period F-16 variants with out of date mechanically scanned array radars which were donated is not going to introduce any essentially new capabilities. The Block 70/72 fashions are being produced very slowly and marketed for round $124 million every with accompanying armaments and components, that means transfers of those plane to Ukraine is way from viable. With NATO having exhausted its provides of MiG-29s from former Warsaw Pact states, nevertheless, and with Ukraine’s floor based mostly air defence community being more and more depleted, supplying outdated F-16s represents one of many few methods to delay Russia’s seemingly inevitable acquiring of air superiority. The fighters are anticipated to hold lots of the identical armaments at the moment carried by Ukraine’s Soviet constructed jets similar to European Storm Shadow and SCALP cruise missiles and American AGM-88 HARM anti radiation cruise missiles.
