Ukraine has received a new batch of F-16s from the Netherlands

The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has received a new batch of F-16 multi-role fighter jets from the Netherlands.

The Air Force Command announced this on its social media.

The number of transferred aircraft was not disclosed. In total, the Netherlands has pledged to provide Ukraine with 24 fighter jets.

As a reminder, the transfer of the first F-16s from the Royal Netherlands Air Force was announced in early October 2024.

The Netherlands is also not against Ukraine’s use of the transferred F16 fighter jets for strikes on Russian territory.

In addition, the Dutch government will purchase air-to-ground weapons for these combat aircraft worth over EUR 150 million.

The receipt of the new batch of former Dutch fighter jets was announced along with the delivery of the first French Mirage 2000-5F multi-role fighters.

Dutch F-16s

The Netherlands officially decommissioned the F-16 at the end of September. Before that, the last fighters of this type made a ceremonial farewell flight over the country’s cities.

This event symbolized the end of 45 years of F-16 service with the Dutch Air Force.

The first of 213 F-16s purchased by the Netherlands arrived at the Air Force base on June 6, 1979.

In the same year, the F-16 Fighting Falcon replaced the outdated F-104 Starfighter and later the NF-5. Now, its place is taken by the latest F-35.

However, the operation of the F-16 has not always been without problems. The first aircraft of this type crashed on March 10, 1980.

Subsequently, there were 44 more air incidents. Some of the fighters were recovered, but 36 were lost forever. In total, 15 pilots were killed during the F-16 operation.