Dutch F-16s heading to training center for Ukrainian pilots within weeks

The Dutch F-16s in which Ukrainian fighter pilots will learn to fly the Western fighter jets will go to the new training center in Romania within a few weeks, said outgoing Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren. Some time later, they can make the first training flight.

The Netherlands is one of the leaders in the group of countries that wants to help Ukraine acquire F-16s to better cope with the Russian invasion forces. It wants to donate a large part of its retired F-16s to Ukraine, but Ukrainian pilots must first learn how to operate them.

According to Ollongern, setting up a training center in Romania, one of Ukraine’s neighbors, is going well. “That’s going very well,” she said after a meeting with her colleagues at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. “We hope to transfer 12 to 18 aircraft to Romania within a few weeks, which means the center can start operating.”

The Netherlands is still working on additional help for the Ukrainian air defense, according to Ollongren. Air defense will be crucial to get through the coming winter, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy told her and the other Defense Ministers. The Netherlands will “be able to do even more in the coming months,” said Ollongren.

Ollongren could not say when the Netherlands would transfer the first fighter jets to Ukraine. The country will “in principle” eventually get 24 that it can deploy in the fight against Russia. The Netherlands still has 42 of the jets. The rest would be used for training pilots.

The United States, by far the largest and most powerful country in NATO, is now taking over the work of the Netherlands and Denmark. The U.S. will lead the “air force coalition” that wants to provide Ukraine with a modern, strong air force. The Netherlands and Denmark, the initiators of the previous “fighter jets coalition,” will continue to help in the foreground. That is “logical,” said Ollongren.

The U.S. initially had great hesitations about supplying Ukraine with modern fighter jets. That would make the conflict even more grim or could even drag NATO into the war, Washington said for a long time. However, the U.S. came to terms when taboo after taboo fell during the ongoing war and under a lot of persuasion from the Netherlands, among others.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin estimated that the first Ukrainian pilots will be ready to fly an F-16 next spring at the earliest.

Dutch military support to Ukraine now amounts to 2.1 billion euros, according to the latest update of the aid that Minister Ollongren sent to parliament. In recent weeks, the Netherlands has arranged for fifteen T72 tanks to go to Ukraine. The Netherlands financed these tanks. Drones, trucks, ammunition, and demining equipment have also been sent.

Part of the costs will be reimbursed from an EU fund. The Netherlands has submitted declarations for a total of 833 million euros. More than 242 million euros of military aid has so far been reimbursed from the fund.