Many months have passed since the formation of the aviation coalition to support Ukraine, and on July 31, it was announced that F-16 fighters had arrived in the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky officially confirmed the arrival of the Western fighters and indicated their immediate use on Air Force Day, on August 4.
“I cannot yet tell you in detail what tasks our first F-16 aircraft will perform or have already performed. I have no right to comment on this. […] So far, the number of aircraft and the number of pilots who have already been trained are not sufficient. The positive thing is that we expect additional F-16s, and our guys are currently undergoing training,” Zelensky said.
European media reported that Ukraine used these fighters for air defense. It is not yet known how many F-16s are involved. According to The Economist, the first batch included 10 fighters. At the NATO summit in Washington, Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine needs at least 128 F-16s.
F-16 fighter jet characteristics
F-16 fighters are deployed in 24 countries. As of 2009, 4,400 of these aircraft had been built. In 2016, 2,500 F-16s were in service. The fighters are no longer being built for the US Air Force, but they are being manufactured for export.
Main characteristics of the F-16:
- can accelerate to a maximum of 2,178 kilometers per hour;
- has a six-barrel aircraft cannon;
- combat range is 1,800 kilometers;
- weighs almost 13 tons (including two missiles on board);
- can cover a distance of up to 4,220 kilometers;
- wingspan is almost 9.5 meters.
The F-16 is a monoplane with a mid-wing and an engine in the tail section of the fuselage. The semi-monocoque fuselage is all-metal with single-keeled winglets. The wing and fuselage’s smooth mating allows the fuselage to generate additional lift at high angles of attack.
A regenerative air conditioning and supercharging system equips the cockpit. The McDonnell Douglas ACESII ejection seat allows the aircraft to eject from the parking lot and into flight, reaching speeds of 1,100 kilometers per hour at altitudes as high as 15,000 meters. The aircraft’s control system is electronically remote with four times the redundancy.
How many F-16s does Ukraine need?
During the NATO summit in Washington, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine needs 128 US-made fighter jets. It’s the immediate need, or what is required right now to repel Russian air attacks. He said that Ukraine will need many more fighters in the long run.
Also, Ukrainian President said that Russian invading forces were using 300 warplanes against Ukraine and that Ukrainian Air Force needed about 120-130 F-16s to counter them.
As of now, the aviation coalition has agreed to transfer about 100 F-16s to Ukraine, but these are long-term plans. Initially, Ukraine will receive 10-20 fighters. In total, the following countries have already announced the delivery of aircraft to Ukraine:
- Belgium: 30 aircraft;
- Denmark: 19 aircraft;
- The Netherlands: 24 aircraft;
- Norway: 6 aircraft.
Data on the number of fighters from other countries has not yet been disclosed. However, even if we consider these countries, we are talking about 79 F-16 fighters. In other words, Ukraine currently requires an additional 49 F-16 fighters. However, it is not that simple.
For instance, Belgium intends to finish the aircraft transfer to Ukraine by 2038, a timeline that aligns with the country’s plan to acquire the more advanced F-35.
Denmark, for the same reason, plans to transfer all the aircraft within three years. Expectations were that Norway would transfer all or the vast majority of its decommissioned 22 aircraft to Ukraine, but only 6 of them were fully combat ready, and the remaining two were for training.
The Netherlands plans to transfer most of the aircraft as soon as possible. In December 2023, Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the Netherlands would transfer 18 fighters as the first tranche. That is to say, Ukraine currently needs more than a hundred aircraft.
Ukrainian military online magazine Defense Express noted that by the end of 2025, Ukraine may receive 40 to 50 F-16s. Therefore, the question of how to cover the need for fighters is now relevant. The publication’s analysts note that a possible solution would be to provide aircraft from the United States, but Washington has not yet made such a decision.
Why does Ukraine need a large fleet of F-16s?
The Ukrainian Air Force needs a large fleet of F-16s to expand its air defense capabilities and perform combat missions. Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) state this in their review.
The analysts note that Ukraine has received a number of F-16s, which is insufficient to yield tangible results in both air defense and the front in the war with Russian invading troops.
Ukraine needs a much larger number of F-16s to expand its air defense capabilities, they conclude.
To ensure the safer use of F-16s and eliminate the risk of their destruction, the Air Force should also regularly destroy air defense systems in the Russian rear and in the occupied territories of Ukraine, the report says.
At the same time, the analysts added that Ukrainian defense forces should use Western weapons to defeat these targets.
How can F-16s help Ukraine?
Although they will not be a panacea for all Russian air attacks, they can close many gaps in the defence of Ukrainian skies. Ukraine insists that the main guarantee of safe skies is modern Western aircraft. The F-16 provision is a quick and effective solution.
The range of tasks that F-16 jets will perform in Ukraine is also quite wide. First, it will strengthen Ukraine’s air defence, as the F16 is an ideal hunter for Russian combat drones.
Secondly, the long-range missiles used on F-16s will help the Ukrainian Army to destroy Russian equipment and logistics. The war is far from over, and in the coming months, the renewed Ukrainian Air Force may surprise the Russians, ending their superiority in the air.
F-16s have become effective against the cruise missiles that Russia is massively attacking Ukraine with, and they can aim at more targets than they can hit. This was reported by Air Force Magazine.
The new radars allow fighter jets to track more targets at longer ranges and with greater accuracy. The new Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars are based on radars that Northrop Grumman has installed on the F-22 and F-35.
The F-16’s previous APG-68 fire control radar could track no more than two targets at a time, but with the new radar, a pilot can “aim at more targets than he can hit.”
The old radar also had “almost zero capability” against cruise missiles, which was “particularly worrisome” given the proliferation of such missiles in recent years.
At the same time, these 72 F-16s will not be the only ones in the United States to receive fifth-generation radars; in the coming years, hundreds more aircraft will receive a combined modernization package that includes the installation of AESA radars.
How much does an F-16 cost?
Most likely, Ukraine hopes to receive modern fighters as military aid. Experts have given the estimated cost of modernized F-16s in different countries.
Greece is modernizing 84 units of F-16 Block 30 and Block 50 to the level of F-16V Block 70/72, or the M7 tape package, at a cost of 1.5 billion dollars, or about 18 million dollars per unit.
For the M7 tape modernization package in Singapore, 60 units of F-16C/D Block 52 and Advanced Block 52 are available for $17 million per unit.
Romania has received the final batch of 17 F-16A/B Block 20 MLU M5.2R, which will undergo upgrades to M6XR. The United States government has already approved a $175 million contract for the modernization and logistics support of this fleet.
