A U.S Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon from the 555th Fighter Squadron takes flight at Aviano Air Base, Italy (US Air Force)
BELFAST — The Netherlands will begin to train Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet pilots “as soon as possible” as part of a three-step plan backed by the US Department of Defense and has stepped up military aid to Kyiv by way of a new €40 million ($43.3 million) air defense package, set to be announced at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Germany Thursday.
Both the training and spending plans were revealed by Kajsa Ollongren, Dutch minister of defense, in a letter to the country’s House of Representatives today.
Though no details of air defense equipment to be supplied to Ukraine were shared, the training plan comprises conversion training, followed by language proficiency and initial flight training, and then the establishment of a training center in an unidentified “Eastern NATO member” country.
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Training sessions will begin with a “limited number” of Ukrainian pilots but could be expanded over time.
The Netherlands is the European F-16 training coordinator, assisted by Denmark. The Biden administration has said it will “support” the effort.
Despite the specific content of the training course not yet being finalized, “consultations” between the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and industry are underway.
Repeated requests from Ukraine for F-16 fighter jets to provide much needed air power had been consistently denied by the US for months, as officials argued other weapon systems were of more immediate concern. But the Biden administration relented somewhat in May 2023 by approving training for the aircraft “to support mid- and long-term defense needs.”
Both the Netherlands and Denmark are open to delivering the fourth generation aircraft to Kyiv, with a Danish lawmaker telling the Hudson Institute think tank this week that surplus Danish Air Force F-16s could be supplied once Copenhagen receives first deliveries of F-35A fifth generation jets this fall. Similarly, 24 Dutch F-16s are set to be retired from 2024, while an additional 18 units are available “for sale” according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, The Netherlands’s $43.4 million air defense package, due to be delivered to Ukraine in the “short term” is part of a “multilateral partnership”, according to the Netherlands Ministry of Defense. Amsterdam has also agreed to buy four Czech Republic-made VERA-EG passive radars worth €150 million ($162.8 million) to support Ukrainian integrated air defense capabilities.
The radars are capable of identifying and tracking airborne and sea based targets, the Netherlands MoD said.
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