Ukraine’s Major F-16 Delivery Gets New Timeline

A timeline has been established for the expected delivery of at least some of the highly anticipated F-16 fighter jets bound for Ukraine.

Danish newspaper Berlingske reported on Saturday that Denmark’s initial delivery of six of the U.S.-made aircraft, which was originally set for early 2024 when announced in August, had been delayed by around six months.

The Danish Defense Ministry confirmed in a statement to Newsweek on Sunday that the shipment was “now expected to happen during the second quarter of 2024,” while noting that “the timeline of the donation is subject to change.”

The New Voice of Ukraine reported on Sunday that Colonel Yurii Ihnat, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, recently appeared on Ukrainian television to deny a delay, while also suggesting that the jets would arrive in the spring.

Ihnat reportedly said that he was “counting on” Ukraine’s most “advanced” group of F-16 pilots to be fully trained on jets by the spring, although some of the training could stretch into 2025.

“One group of pilots studying in the UK are graduates of the class of 2023, and they will be trained there for up to two years before being transferred to the F-16,” Ihnat said. “Another group is studying in the United States in Arizona, where the Americans have announced that the training will last until the end of 2024.”

“Perhaps someone will be trained earlier,” he added. “As far as Denmark is concerned, this is an advanced group. Both fighters and pilots will be the fastest from there. When will they be the fastest? Well, we are still counting on the spring.”

Denmark has pledged to donate a total of 19 F-16s to Ukraine. Out of those, 14 had originally been scheduled to be delivered by this year, with the remaining five scheduled for 2025.

Beyond the six aircraft that are expected in the spring, it is unclear if unclear if any of the other Danish delivery timelines have changed.

Newsweek reached out for comment to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense via email on Monday.

Denmark is serving as a major training hub for Ukraine’s fledgling F-16 program, with a number of allies having recently delivered jets to the country for training purposes.

While there had been significant speculation about Ukraine receiving aircraft earlier than springtime, Ihnat dismissed the idea of bringing jets into the “crosshairs of the enemy” before training was complete during a Ukrainian media interview in late December.

“The infrastructure, the pilots who are now in training with the instructors, also the aviation engineering staff [are] the basics that we need,” said Ihnat. “We’re taking planes to fight on them, not to keep them standing.”

In addition to Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway have all agreed to collectively provide Ukraine with dozens of F-16s for combat. The Netherlands is expected to be the largest donor, contributing a total of 42 jets.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month that an initial batch of 18 jets was being prepared for delivery soon, without publicly announcing the exact timing of the delivery.

The F-16s are no longer considered cutting-edge technology but their arrival in Ukraine will represent a significant upgrade to Kyiv’s Air Force, which has relied on a fleet largely consisting of Soviet-era MiG and Sukhoi jets since Russia invaded on February 24, 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued that the jets will do little to help Ukraine, saying during an Eastern Economic Forum speech in September that procurement of the jets “simply prolongs the conflict.”