Belgium has decided to accelerate its delivery of F16s to Ukraine: they will already send up to four F16s in 2024 instead of 2025.

5 comments

1. 🇧🇪 🇧🇪 🇧🇪

2. Additional context: we still don’t have our F-35s and our current F-16s (a relatively small number) are being used to do NATO Benelux Air Policing, to protect Baltics airspace, to train Belgian pilots, and to train Ukrainian pilots in Denmark. So it was deemed almost impossible to send anything earlier than 2025. However, because the next government might not be as “Ukraine friendly”(elections in 6 weeks) and because the liberal parties pressured the socialist parties to still try and find a way, the decision has now been accelerated.

3. Nice

4. The sooner the better. Thank you, Belgium!

5. Can anyone explain to me why F-16 availability (aside from training pilots) is an issue? I can go on Google at look at USAF maintenance/boneyard facilities in the US Southwest and they must have at least 1200 airframes sitting in storage. This is of course in addition to the 800 or so still in USAF service.

   I understand that half the storage stocks are older cold-war versions and un-flightworthy, but if even 10% is to be returned to service that would represent 120 aircraft.