2023-11-08 12:29:06
The Netherlands Air Force yesterday sent five F-16 fighter jets to Romania, where NATO has established a training center for Ukrainian pilots. This movement represents a milestone in the course of the war in Ukraine as it brings closer the arrival of promised Western aircraft to Kiev, scheduled for the end of this year or early 2024. NATO thus intends to break Moscow’s air dominance. Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren announced that she is making between 12 and 18 units of the F-16 available for training purposes and revealed that the training center will open “soon.” The American manufacturer Lockheed Martin announced that it will also offer maintenance training for these aircraft.
A few hours later, the Romanian Ministry of Defense, the fighters already landed at the Fetești air base. So far, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Belgium have promised up to 61 F-16s to Ukraine, which has insistently demanded these aircraft to repel the Russian invasion, although their arrival in Kiev is only expected in spring 2024. expects the United States to lead the “air force coalition.”
The aircraft in question are single-seat F-16AM series J-010, J-019 and J-366, and two-seat F-16BM series J-064 and J-210, as detailed by The Drive.
F-16 instructors will use Dutch aircraft to train Romanian and Ukrainian pilots. The planes sent to Romania will only fly on NATO territory and will remain the property of the Netherlands.
In August, the Dutch government promised to provide Ukraine with F-16s, but set some conditions, including that enough Ukrainians be trained to fly the plane and that infrastructure at Ukrainian airfields be adequate to operate the fighter.
“Taking into account the current geopolitical context and Romania’s strategic position in the Black Sea area, this center becomes essential for cross-border cooperation and the strengthening of security and solidarity within NATO,” adds the Ministry of Defense. Romanian.
The Netherlands has purchased 52 fifth-generation F-35 aircraft to replace its aging F-16 fleet. The last flight of an F-16 is scheduled for 2024, Breaking News reports. In June 2022, the Dutch government ordered six additional F-35s. In total, manufacturer Lockheed Martin has already delivered 33 combat aircraft to the Netherlands.
Ukraine receives two NASAMS batteries
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, announced in the last few hours that his Army has received new Norwegian NASAMS air defense systems. Although kyiv has not revealed the quantity, various media outlets suggest that it would be two new batteries. NASAMS is an air defense system designed by the Norwegian company Kongsberg with active radar guidance.
This battery is made up of six sextuple missile launchers, a Sentinel radar for detecting and tracking targets, and a command and control center. The radar has a range of 75 kilometers and the capacity to manage up to 80 aircraft tracks in real time.
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