Ukraine’s Partners Have Accelerated Repair of Ukrainian F-16s

Ukraine’s industrial partners have accelerated the repair of Ukrainian F-16 fighter jets following intensive use.

This was reported by a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Heorhiy Tykhyi.

“Our industrial partners providing technical support are not only continuing to deliver the aircraft after major overhauls, but are also doing so increasingly quickly. The turnaround times are getting shorter, not longer,” the spokesperson said.

Problems with maintaining these aircraft stem, in particular, from the fact that some components for early F-16 models are no longer manufactured, and they are becoming increasingly difficult to procure.

“However, recent reports about an allegedly catastrophically low level of aircraft readiness and excessively long maintenance times simply do not correspond to reality,” Tykhyi noted.

Repair and maintenance of Ukrainian F-16s

Recently, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Financial Times that about half of the F-16 fighter jets have been in Europe for repairs and maintenance for a long time.

According to him, the return of some aircraft is being delayed to such an extent that Ukraine is losing precious time when the fighter jets are most needed to defend its airspace.

Zelensky noted that Kyiv is seeking assistance from Western partners to shift most of the maintenance work to Ukrainian territory. He said that keeping the aircraft closer to the theater of operations will allow them to be returned to service more quickly.

As of the end of September, Ukrainian pilots flying F-16 fighter jets had already shot down more than 3,150 enemy aerial targets.

Due to a shortage of AIM-120 and AIM-9 air-to-air missiles, Ukrainian F-16 pilots are increasingly firing at drones with 20-mm cannons. To address this, Ukraine is working on a large-scale procurement of 20-mm ammunition for the F-16s.

Last year, to support pre-flight training for F-16 fighter jets, the Come Back Alive Foundation provided the military with mobile maintenance systems.