The United States had approved its first sale of military equipment to Ukraine since Donald Trump took office, while Kyiv received F-16 fighter jets from Washington. However, there is a catch: these Fighting Falcons do not fly.
The Pentagon announced on Friday that the US State Department has approved a potential USD 310 million sale to Ukraine covering F-16 training, maintenance, and related equipment. The deal includes a wide range of support, such as aircraft modifications, flight training, sustainment services, spare parts, and classified systems and software.
While the new sale differs from the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) — under which more than USD 31 billion in weapons have been rapidly provided to Ukraine without congressional approval — it further reinforces US support for Kyiv’s defense capabilities.
Meanwhile, the United States is pulling out mothballed F-16s for delivery to Ukraine. The Ukrainian Air Force, which already operates Europe-supplied F-16s, will use them as spares.
Late last month, a set of photos and videos appeared on social media showing an An-124 cargo plane transporting at least three F-16 airframes from Tucson airport in Arizona to Rzeszów airport in Poland. Rzeszów is a large city in southeastern Poland that lies close to the border with Ukraine and is a key western military aid hub for Ukraine.
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Notably, the photos posed online on April 26 showed two shrink-wrapped F-16s with vertical stabilizers, engines, nose cones, and wings removed being loaded into the Antonov using the rear cargo winch.
The images triggered speculation that the US could send the F-16s to Ukraine. However, in the absence of a formal announcement of a transfer from the United States, some military analysts surmised that the aircraft could be for Poland.
The air around the transfer was cleared recently as a senior US officer confirmed to US media that the aircraft sent to Kyiv are decommissioned F-16 jets that cannot be redeemed for use by the United States and are being dispatched to be used for spare parts.
“The Department of the Air Force has supported the sustainment of European-donated F-16s to Ukraine by providing disused and completely non-operational F-16s to Ukraine for parts. These F-16s were retired from active U.S. use and are not flyable. Importantly, they lack critical components such as an engine or radar and could not be reconstituted for operational use,” an Air Force spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The development sparked interest because earlier this month, US General Christopher Cavoli said more F-16 fighter jets were being prepared for transfer to Ukraine.
“There are more F-16s prepared to be deployed in there. There are more pilots in the training pipelines,” Cavoli said in an address to the Senate Armed Services Committee. “None of the F-16s have been from the U.S., though. They’ve mainly been from northern European countries, the Netherlands and Denmark.”
On its part, the US has provided training to Ukrainian fighter jets but has not delivered F-16 fighters to Kyiv. However, with a thaw in ties achieved after the recently concluded mineral deal, that may change.
The F-16s Fly In Ukraine Every Day
The Ukrainian Air Force primarily uses the F-16 for air defense patrols. The aircraft has been used to intercept Russian aerial threats such as cruise missiles, drones, and fighter jets.
These Western-origin aircraft have been crucial in thwarting major Russian attacks, mainly aimed at the country’s infrastructure. Earlier, a Ukrainian F-16 pilot claimed that over 80% of missiles launched by F-16s hit their targets, including Shahed drones and cruise missiles launched from air, sea, and land.
The Ukrainian F-16s have been seen carrying the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) and the AIM-9X Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missile for combat air patrols.
The F-16s also use high-precision weapons such as JDAM-ER glide bombs and Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs) to launch precise ground attacks on targets like command posts.
However, these strikes are limited to the frontline as Russia employs a cutting-edge S-400 air defense system that can neutralize the Fighting Falcons. The range of these glide bombs depends on the release altitude, which typically ranges from 10,000 to 40,000 feet.
The F-16s take daily sorties to defend the Ukrainian airspace and assist ground forces. “They fly every day; they’ve defeated a large number of cruise missile threats, and they’ve delivered an awful lot of offensive attacks as well, specifically bombing attacks in the east,” Army Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli said. The Ukrainian F-16s also challenge Russian aircraft by conducting offensive counter-air missions.
These fighters take routine reconnaissance missions during which the pilots map and identify Russian radar emissions based on the aircraft’s self-defense systems, which include the Terma electronic warfare management system. This information is then used to launch subsequent strikes. To target enemy radars and air defense systems, F-16s use the AGM-88 HARM missile. Unlike glide bombs, the HARM is a powered, high-speed weapon that accelerates to over Mach 2 within seconds of launch. The F-16 is also used to give cover to other combat aircraft.
Despite receiving just 16 F-16s, the Ukrainian Air Force has already lost two F-16 fighters. The first aircraft crashed in August 2024, shortly after it was delivered to the air force. The second incident involving the aircraft came last month when the Ukrainian Air Force reported the loss of an F-16 fighter jet during a combat mission in eastern Ukraine.
Though the Air Force stopped short of fully disclosing the loss, the F-16 in question is believed to have been engaged by the Russian S-400. The pilot was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.
Ukraine was promised 85 operational F-16s, including 24 from the Netherlands, 19 from Denmark, and 12 from Norway (plus 10 more that will be used as spare parts), while Belgium has committed to providing 30.
The country received the first batch of aircraft in August 2024. The last time it received F-16s was in March 2025, as confirmed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the time.
Ukrainian officials have stated that more of these jets will arrive this year. However, previous reports indicated that the deliveries of more jets from European allies were impeded due to a spare part shortage.
Perhaps the US could help with the supplies by providing more mothballed F-16s to its allies or directly arming Ukraine with its own F-16s.
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