Decommissioned U.S. F-16s to Help Repair Ukraine’s Combat Jet Fleet
The United States has begun transferring retired F-16 fighter jets from its aircraft “boneyard” in Arizona to Ukraine — not for combat, but as a source of spare parts to sustain the country’s expanding fleet of European-donated F-16s, The Gaze reports, citing The War Zone.
Photos circulated last week showed at least three shrink-wrapped, dismantled F-16s — missing wings, engines, tails, and radomes — being loaded onto a Ukrainian Antonov An-124 transport aircraft at Tucson International Airport. The aircraft was later tracked en route to Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport in southeastern Poland, a key logistics hub for delivering military aid to Ukraine.
A U.S. Air Force spokesperson confirmed that the jets had been “retired from active U.S. use and are not flyable,” but are being provided “to support the sustainment of European-donated F-16s to Ukraine.”
The jets came from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base’s 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group — the U.S. military’s primary aircraft storage and reclamation facility, commonly known as “the boneyard.”
To date, Ukraine is set to receive approximately 85 operational F-16s, including 24 from the Netherlands, 19 from Denmark, 12 from Norway (plus 10 more for parts), and 30 from Belgium. These airframes, many of which are decades old, demand a significant supply chain and maintenance effort — making the newly arrived U.S. parts supply a vital addition.
General Christopher Cavoli, the top U.S. military commander in Europe, recently told the Senate that more F-16s were being prepared for Ukraine, though he did not disclose their origin at the time.
Ukraine has already reported combat losses in its F-16 fleet, including fatal crashes in August 2024 and April 2025. Despite these setbacks, the jets are being used in both air-to-air and air-to-ground operations.
Though the U.S. has not yet delivered operational F-16s to Ukraine, the provision of spare parts from its retired fleet significantly boosts Kyiv’s ability to keep its Western jets flying.
Read more on The Gaze: Europe Begins to Overtake US in Volume of Aid to Ukraine