Ukraine’s path to F-16 acquisition: Military expert reveals key conditions
There are three primary requirements for Ukraine to receive F-16 aircraft, a military expert and former SBU security service officer Ivan Stupak said during a broadcast with Radio NV on April 5.
"There are three conditions under which Ukraine will receive these aircraft," Stupak said.
“The first is trained pilots who have completed all the necessary pieces of training provided by the training course. The second is the availability of ground personnel who will service the aircraft <...> who can wake up at night and tell you in English what each part is called, how to replace it, with what wrenches. And the third condition is the existing [airfields] where they will be based, or several locations where they will periodically leap to in case the Russians attack these places with their cruise or ballistic missiles.”
Read also: Ukraine to receive Danish F-16 jets this summer — Dutch defense minister
The main question is what kind of missiles the aircraft will be equipped with, stressed Stupak.
"There are cheap missiles with a short range, there may be a lot of them. There are expensive missiles with a long range, there are few of them, and they are very expensive."
It will not be necessary to disclose when the F-16s would appear in the sky so that it would be a surprise for the aggressor, said Illya Yevlash, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force.
The Netherlands and Denmark promised in August 2023 to jointly provide Ukraine with 61 American F-16 fighter jets.
Norway has also confirmed its intention to supply F-16s. Belgium will also provide Ukraine with F-16s, albeit only in 2025.
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The Netherlands announced its decision to begin preparations for the delivery of the first 18 aircraft to Ukraine in December, and later increased this number to 24. In total, the country has promised Kyiv 42 fighters.
Foreign Policy reported on Feb. 18, 2024, citing European officials, that the first F-16 fighters would arrive in Ukraine around June 2024. Commenting on this, the then-representative of the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuriy Ihnat, noted that it was impossible to talk about specific dates for the transfer of F-16s to Ukraine by foreign partners.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Western F-16 fighters should appear in the Ukrainian skies in mid-summer.
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