Danish air force F-16s.
Many months of determined lobbying by Ukrainian officials bore fruit earlier this month when The Netherlands and the United Kingdom announced a new initiative to train Ukrainian pilots to fly Lockheed Martin-made F-16 fighters. Lithium Battery Management System
The training program all but guarantees at least one of Ukraine’s foreign allies will donate surplus F-16s to the war effort. The question is—which? And how many of the nimble, supersonic F-16s is enough to make a difference in Russia’s 15-month wider war on Ukraine?
While many NATO countries operate F-16s, just a few are in a position to give away flyable fighters, fast. Even though many of these countries are acquiring Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters to replace their 1980s-vintage F-16s.
The Netherlands has 24 active F-16AM/BMs plus another 18 in flyable storage. After selling off most of its own old F-16AM/BMs in favor of new F-35s, Norway still has a dozen of the older jets in some hangar somewhere. Denmark flies around three dozen F-16AM/BMs and keeps another two dozen or so in reserve.
If the Dutch, Norwegians and Danes give away every F-16 they can spare right now, Ukraine might have as many as 50 F-16s as early as this summer. Is that enough?
Yes, according to Ukrainian air force brigadier general Serhii Golubtsov. “To plan an operation from A to Z, I think it is worth talking about at least a squadron, at least 12 to 16 planes,” Golubtsov said.
But while a dozen F-16s could form a coherent unit, it would take several such units to tilt the local aerial balance of power over one stretch of the Ukraine front. “If it will be at least three to four squadrons, I think that in a separate direction we will be able to gain superiority in the air and force the enemy to completely abandon the strikes they are currently making in a certain area, on a certain defense lane," Golubtsov said.
It just so happens that three or four squadrons, each with 12 to 16 F-16s, adds up to around 50 F-16s. That’s the minimum number The Netherlands, Norway and Denmark should be able immediately to donate.
The United States of course keeps hundreds of Block 25 and Block 30/32 F-16C/Ds in long-term storage. But most of them have been sitting in the Arizona desert for many years, if not decades. Unflying. Left out of the overhauls and periodic upgrades that keep active F-16s safe and relevant.
The U.S. military would need to overhaul these stored F-16s before giving them away. That might take months. Thus European F-16AM/BMs are the best short-term solution to Ukraine’s fighter needs. American F-16C/Ds might be a longer-term solution.
But to be clear, the Ukrainians will take what they can get, when they can get it—and then make best use of it. Golubtsov stressed he’d even find a way to deploy a tiny number of F-16s by arming them with long-range munitions and folding them into the Ukrainian air force’s existing force of 120 or so Soviet-vintage Sukhoi and MiG fighters.
Battery Balancer 24v “We say: give us at least a couple of planes capable of launching a missile at a distance of more than 100 kilometers and we will hide them in the combat formations of those planes we have," Golubtsov said.