The top five are already in Romania F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters intended for training pilots of the Ukrainian Air Force (UAF). The jets belong to the Royal Dutch Air Force (RNLAF) and will be used to train Ukrainian and Romanian pilots.
The combat planes landed at the European F-16 Training Center (EFTC), located at Fetești Air Base, in southeastern Romania, on Tuesday afternoon (07), marking another advance in the supply of F-16 fighters to Ukraine. In parallel, a group of Ukrainian airmen are already in the United States training to fly the “new” fighter.
The Netherlands will make between 12 and 18 F-16s available for the EFTC. The planes arrived without some identification marks, but the Dutch government reinforced that the fighters still belong to the RNLAF.
On X (formerly Twitter), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Dutch, who took the initiative to export the planes and set up training infrastructure in Europe. “We continue to work together to welcome F-16s into Ukrainian skies as quickly as possible,” said the president on the platform.
I'm grateful to the Netherlands and @MinPres Mark Rutte for leading the way in ing Ukraine. Today marks a milestone: five Dutch F-16s have already arrived at the training center in Romania. We keep working together to welcome F-16s into Ukrainian skies as soon as possible.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelenskyy (@ZelenskyyUa) November 7, 2023
With the arrival of the planes at the EFTC, which will also train pilots from Romania, Ukraine is even closer to receiving the long-awaited F-16s, which it has been asking for from friendly nations since the beginning of the conflict with Russia.
For US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, the F-16s will be a good addition to the UAF, which operates old MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters, although some are modernized. On the other hand, Kendall said that fighter jets are not “a dramatic game changer […] for its full military capabilities.”
In addition to the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Norway also confirmed the transfer of F-16s to Kiev. Even before training on the planes themselves, Ukraine's fighter pilots were already familiarizing themselves with the F-16. through the DCS simulator and training provided by Belgium and the United Kingdom.
The EFTC will have from the United States and Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of the F-16. However, as noted by the The War Zone, the training unit may also receive from Draken International, a company that provides aerial combat training services and operates the model in the USA. Draken would acquire 12 F-16s from the Netherlands, but the fighters will be transferred to the Ukrainians.
The portal also states that the F-16s will initially be used in a refresher course for F-16 instructors hired by the EFTC. After that, training for new pilots will begin. Missions will only be carried out in NATO airspace.
