The West and Europe spent all of 2023 deciding whether to send Kyiv fourth-generation American F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters, but things are still there.
Outdated Soviet aircraft did not give Kyiv an air advantage at the front, and the war was gradually running out of Su-24 frontline bombers, Su-25 attack aircraft, Su-27 and MiG-29 fighters. The country was increasingly embroiled in war and its government was desperate to find allies, unable to stand alone against a more powerful adversary.
NATO countries decided to lend Ukraine a helping hand. As early as June 2023, the alliance’s agenda included sending Ukraine F-16s. It was also necessary to create appropriate conditions for the operation of fighter jets on the frontline.
The Ukrainian government insisted on receiving the new fighter jets because, according to military analysts, the Ukrainian offensive failed largely due to Russian air superiority, as Ukraine’s tank forces were powerless against Russian helicopter attacks.
In the summer of 2023, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters that the training of Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 aircraft had already begun. According to Stoltenberg, a programme has already been developed to train Ukrainian engineers and technicians to maintain the aircraft.
After the confident statement by the NATO representative, the US, Denmark, the UK and the Netherlands said that they would provide Ukraine with F-16s as part of military aid. However, things are still there.
Denmark and the Netherlands were the first to pull out of the race. They announced that they were temporarily postponing the delivery of F-16s. Representatives of these countries said that Ukraine was not ready for appropriate maintenance of these fighters. For example, even the runways of Ukrainian aerodromes are not adapted for the use of such aircraft.
The new fighters need a long and flat runway, while the Soviet MiG-29s were designed to operate in harsh conditions and have lowered louvres over the air intakes that protect the aircraft from dirt and stones getting into the engines.
In addition, Yuriy Ignat, an adviser to Ukraine’s Air Force Command, said the country’s airbases are subject to regular air attacks from Russia. He said that the West will send fighter jets when Ukraine has the necessary technical base ready for them.
Other Ukrainian airfields are also regularly hit by both ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones. And the strikes are carried out in such a precise and timely manner that as soon as an aerodrome’s runway is restored after a strike, the next one is struck.
This vicious circle can only be broken by more air defences. However, the air threat is not Ukraine’s only problem. Bureaucracy stands in the way of Ukraine’s promised new weapons. As recently as a year ago, Canada promised to buy a NASAMS surface-to-air missile system from the United States and transfer it to Ukraine. According to Canada, Washington received $406 million to purchase the NASAMS SAM system back in March 2023, and signed a contract with Raytheon for its production. However, just like with the F-16, things are still there.
Kongsberg Group, the company involved in the development of these SAMs, said that neither the US nor Canada has entered into such an agreement with it. The resolution of bureaucratic problems is delayed for a long time, and the Ukrainian army at the front has no opportunity to wait.
Increasingly, Ukraine is facing opposition from its own allies, especially influenced by the conflict between the White House and the US Congress over providing further aid to Kyiv. Politicians in Congress cannot convince each other what is more important – another tranche to Ukraine or strengthening its own borders with Mexico.
The situation is fuelled by the upcoming presidential election: voters are closely watching where their tax dollars will be spent.
Allies are holding up the delivery of promised F-16s to Ukraine until conditions are met. Meanwhile, Russia continues to strike Ukrainian military airfields, which puts a stick in the wheel in fulfilling those conditions.
Western air defence systems could help Ukraine gain air superiority, but the allies have been slow to act, and Kyiv is increasingly mired in a vicious cycle of chasing aid.
