On May 2, 2025, the US Department of Defense's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) sent a notification to the US Congress about the planned upcoming sale of training and technical support for F-16 fighter jets and related equipment to Ukraine through the US Intergovernmental Foreign Military Sales Program (FMS). 310.5 million dollars. The sale will include improvements and modifications to the delivered aircraft, training of ground personnel, supplies of spare parts, consumables and ground equipment, repair support, software and documentation supplies, technical and logistical services from the US government and contractors.
Loading of a General Dynamics F-16ADF non-flying fighter jet decommissioned from the US Air Force aboard An An-124-100 Ruslan transport aircraft (registration number UR-82027) of the Ukrainian airline Antonov Airlines for delivery to Ukraine as a source of spare parts. Tucson, 04/26/2025 (c) HAULPRO
This notification attracted widespread attention because it was the first report of a significant planned military supply from the United States to Ukraine after US President Donald Trump came to power in January 2025. It should be noted that the DSCA notification does not determine the procedure for financing the supply, which can also be made at the expense of the remaining military aid funds previously allocated to Ukraine by the administration of US President Joe Biden.
A little earlier, as reported, on April 30, the Trump administration informed the US Congress of its intention to allow the export of unnamed defense equipment to Ukraine through direct commercial sales (DCS - Direct Commercial Sales), that is, with Ukraine's purchase directly from an American manufacturing company, in the amount of about $ 50 million.
The supply of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine is carried out with the assistance of the United States by Western European NATO countries from the presence of the latter's Air Force. The fundamental decision to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets from Russia was made by the United States and its allies in early 2023. On July 11, 2023, during the Vilnius NATO Summit, a memorandum was signed between a number of NATO countries and Ukraine on the creation of a so-called "Coalition" for the joint transfer to Ukraine of F-16AM/BM fighters withdrawn from the Air Forces of Western European countries and on the training of Ukrainian flight and technical personnel for the transferred aircraft. The coalition is led by the Netherlands and Denmark and now also includes the United States, Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Great Britain, France, Greece and Bulgaria.
On August 17, 2023 and April 5, 2024, the U.S. government officially approved the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine by European countries. The main training of Ukrainian flight and technical personnel for the transferred fighters is currently being carried out in the Netherlands and Denmark, and to a lesser extent in the USA and Norway. The remaining countries contribute financially or provide training for young Ukrainian flight personnel at the initial or main stages of flight training, followed by their training directly for F-16 fighters in the coalition's leading countries.
In July 2023, the establishment of the European F-16 Training Center (EFTC) was announced, which was opened at the 86th Romanian Air Force Base in Borce on November 13, 2023. The training of Ukrainian personnel for F-16 fighters there was started only from the end of 2024.
To date, the Netherlands has announced its intention to transfer 24 F-16AM/BM fighters to Ukraine, Denmark - 19 fighters, Belgium - 30 fighters, and Norway - 12 fighters plus 10 aircraft for disassembly. Thus, it is planned to transfer to Ukraine 85 combat-ready fighters that have been upgraded to the latest versions of the F-16AM/BM MLU. It is known that the Netherlands and Denmark handed over the first planes. On July 10, 2024, the United States, the Netherlands and Denmark announced the formal transfer of the first 10 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, the first six of which ( former Danish aircraft) arrived in Ukraine on July 31, and on August 4, during a ceremony at the Vasilkov airfield near Kiev, they were officially commissioned into the Ukrainian Air Force.
Presumably, Ukraine received a total of 20 F-16 fighters in 2024, and in 2025 it should receive another 29 to 35. It is assumed that the transfer of Belgian aircraft will actually begin only in 2026 and will last until 2028. The limiting factor in the supply is the need to train Ukrainian flight personnel, since, according to the American media, the US government, even under Biden, denied Ukraine the possibility of using American or foreign flight personnel for combat use of Ukrainian F-16 fighters on a contractual basis. By now, according to reliable data, the Ukrainian Air Force has already lost two F-16AM fighters.
It is reported that back in the summer of 2024, the United States transferred at least two non-flying F-16ADF fighter jets to Ukraine from storage for use as sources of spare parts. On April 26, 2025, at Tucson Airport in Arizona, four more non-flying F-16ADF fighters were loaded aboard the Antonov Airlines An-124-100 Ruslan transport aircraft and sent to Ukraine on April 30 for the same purpose.
