Norway to Send Only 6 F-16s to Ukraine Instead of 22 or 10: Here’s Why
The Ukrainian Air Force will receive six F-16 fighters from Norway, as announced by Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. He also added that the delivery of the aircraft will begin in 2024.
Thus, Norway, which decommissioned all its F-16s in 2022, has become the smallest donor of these aircraft to Ukraine. For example, Denmark is donating 19 aircraft, Belgium 30, and the Netherlands 24.
It is worth noting that Norway never officially announced how many aircraft might be transferred. Unofficial estimates mentioned up to 22 F-16s. However, it was noted that not all of these aircraft are operational, and some would be used for spare parts. Therefore, in August 2023, Jonas Gahr Støre stated that the number would likely be fewer than 10 aircraft.
In April 2024, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide still kept the exact number of F-16s for Ukraine secret, confirming that only a portion of the available aircraft were combat-ready, while some were merely “fuselages” that could only be used for repairing other planes.
It is also worth noting that in January 2024, Norway officially announced the transfer of two F-16s for training Ukrainian pilots, which were supposed to be deployed at the Danish Skrydstrup Air Base in the spring-summer of this year.
And the fact that out of the purported 22 available aircraft in Norway, only six are operational, with an additional two designated for training purposes, is entirely understandable. After all, Norwegian planes were retired two years ago, and as of 2022, there were formally only 57 units.
So the issue is no longer that Norway is transferring only six F-16s, but rather that only six F-16s in the country, after two years of retirement, are in a condition to engage in combat.