Norway to Hand Over Six F-16 Fighter Jets to Ukraine
Ukraine will receive six F-16 fighter jets from Norway. The delivery of the aircraft will begin this year.
This is reported by the Norwegian government's website.
"Ukraine's ability to defend itself against air attacks is extremely important in its defence struggle against Russia. Norway has now decided to provide six F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said.
According to him, the delivery of the aircraft will take place during the current year.
At the end of last summer, the Norwegian government decided to provide Ukraine with F-16s as part of multinational cooperation between Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States. Since autumn 2023, Norway has been involved in training Ukrainian pilots in Denmark.
On 19 May 2023, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that the United States was ready to approve training for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s.
The United States said it could agree to the purchase of F-16 combat aircraft, provided they are not used to strike Russian territory.
During the G7 summit, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that his country was ready to assist in training Ukrainian military pilots.
After the G7 summit in 2023, it became known that the United States had unblocked the training of Ukrainian pilots on fighter jets and the supply of aircraft by other states. On 22 May 2023, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that supplying Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets was a priority. The next day, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg indicated that Western allies would determine individually when to start training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s.
In August 2023, Zelenskyy announced that the Netherlands would provide 42 aircraft. Denmark said it would provide 19 aircraft.
In February 2024, Foreign Policy, citing senior EU officials, wrote that the first US F-16s would arrive in Ukraine around June 2024.