Ukraine denies rumors of grounding its F-16 fleet

Ukraine affirmed on Friday October 2 that it was still “intensively” using its F-16 fighters, American-made and supplied by its Western allies, reacting to a press article according to which maintenance problems have grounded a large part of these aircraft. “Ukraine intensively uses its F-16 fleet in difficult conditions (...) Recent publications alleging a catastrophically low availability rate of the aircraft and excessively long maintenance times are simply false,” declared the spokesperson for Ukrainian diplomacy, Georgiï Tikhy, on his X account.

The American newspaper Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said on Tuesday that the "major part" of the Ukrainian F-16s that Ukraine uses in the face of Russian air attacks were currently out of service, because they were waiting to pass a mandatory inspection after 300 hours of flight, to be carried out by a Belgian company, Sabena Aerospace Engineering. According to the WSJ, this Belgian service provider was experiencing significant delays. In a statement released Thursday, Sabena Aerospace Engineering denied the allegations, saying it was “very surprised” by “the erroneous reports reporting significant delays in this critical maintenance program.”

Ukrainian spokesperson Georguiï Tikhy acknowledged that maintaining these aircraft was a “challenge”, particularly because they are old F-16 models of which “certain components” are “no longer manufactured” and “increasingly difficult to obtain”. But he asserted that kyiv's "industrial partners" continue "not only to deliver overhauled aircraft, but are doing so at an increasing rate" calling not to let "misinformation weaken this vital support." These F-16s will be “most needed” for Ukraine during the winter, as the country expects a further intensification of Russian attacks on energy infrastructure. On Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Belgium would deliver three additional F-16s to kyiv by the end of the year.

Ukraine had lobbied its Western allies for months for F-16s, receiving its first batch in mid-2024. But kyiv has not received many and has already lost at least four in combat since 2024, according to official announcements. Problems with training Ukrainian pilots have also been reported. These devices are part of the entire arsenal used by Ukraine to shoot down the drones and missiles attacking the country every day.