AFU to receive first F-16 fighters in July – NYT

In July 2024, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) might receive the first six F-16 fighter jets. Another 13 are due to arrive by the end of the year and in 2025.

This follows from an article by The New York Times.

A total of about 45 units were promised, but their delivery and pilot training proved more difficult than expected. It is reported that the learning process was slowed down by the language barrier and the study of Western flight technologies.

The publication writes that at this time, 12 pilots - less than a full squadron - will be ready to perform combat missions in the F-16 by the summer of this year after ten months of training in Denmark, Great Britain, and the United States.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, an aviation expert previously told what needs to be done before F-16s appear in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expects to see F-16 fighter jets in Ukrainian airspace by summer.

Also, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, published footage from the training of Ukrainian pilots on American F-16 fighter jets.

Meanwhile, AFU Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat reported that Ukraine cannot build a new infrastructure for American F-16 fighter jets, as in Western countries, in conditions of intense hostilities, so adaptation is underway.