Final two Dutch F-16s delivered to Ukraine for pilot training

The Netherlands has now supplied 18 fighter jets to a Romanian air base as promised, its defense ministry has said

The Dutch military has completed the delivery of 18 F-16 fighter jets for Kiev after the final two planes arrived at an air base in Romania, where Ukrainian pilots are being trained to operate the US-made aircraft, its defense ministry announced on Wednesday.

The Netherlands is part of the so-called F-16 coalition, which agreed to provide NATO-standard warplanes to Ukraine for use in its conflict against Russia. It has agreed to donate aircraft that are being retired from its national air force.

The 86th Air Base in Romania is one of the locations where Western instructors have been teaching Ukrainian military personnel how to operate the fighter jets.

Amsterdam has delivered a total of 18 F-16s to the facility, Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said. Initially used to prepare Romanian pilots, the jets were later allocated for Ukrainian training courses.

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The Netherlands has also promised 24 F-16s for the Ukrainian military fleet, with deliveries having started in October and are scheduled to be complete within months.

Kiev has claimed that having NATO aircraft in its arsenal could be a gamechanger in the conflict with Russia, but it is unclear how much of an impact the F-16s have had, since they first arrived in Ukraine sometime in late July or early August. Kiev has confirmed losing one of the aircraft in a combat mission as a result of what Ukrainian officials described as a pilot error.

Specific Western weapon systems are not what Kiev needs to turn the tide, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan claimed in an interview with PBS News on Monday.

“We have provided the tanks. We have provided the F-16s. We have provided the HIMARS. We have provided the Patriots,” he said. “Have we seen a marked difference since we have provided tanks to Ukraine in terms of the battlefield? Similarly, on F-16s, have we seen a marked difference?”

The answer to Kiev’s current battlefield woes is sending more troops to the front line, the US official stated.

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Denmark, Belgium and Norway have also promised to provide F-16s for Ukraine. Moscow has claimed that no amount of Western weapons can alter the outcome of the conflict, claiming that the US and its allies want to fight Russia “to the last Ukrainian.”