F-16 fighters, taken from an American landfill near Tucson Airport in Arizona, are being supplied to Ukraine for spare parts for the growing fleet of fighters provided by Europe to protect Ukraine from the Russian Federation. This is reported by TWZ with reference to the US Air Force, writes UNN.
Details
The publication notes that the United States Air Force confirmed this information to the publication after photographs appeared that week showing partially disassembled F-16s being loaded onto a Ukrainian chartered An-124 transport aircraft in Arizona. Onboard trackers showed the transport plane flying to Poland, Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport. It is a vital transit hub for military supplies from the West to Ukraine.
The US Air Force supported the supply of F-16s donated by Europeans to Ukraine by providing Ukraine with decommissioned and completely inoperable F-16s for spare parts. These F-16s were removed from active US use and are not suitable for flight. Importantly, they lack critical components such as an engine or radar and could not be restored for operational use, the US Air Force spokesman said.
Despite evidence indicating that the United States was supplying non-operational aircraft to Ukraine, there has been no official confirmation to date. So there was a possibility that they were intended for use by Poland, possibly for spare parts or ground training on exfoliators.
The wrapping of the aircraft in shrink wrap made it impossible to accurately determine which versions of the F-16 were sent to Ukraine for spare parts. However, the presence of "bird-cutter" type IFF antennas on the nose suggests that these are older versions of Block 15 Air Defense Fighters (ADF), which previously flew in the US Air National Guard.
The publication contacted the US Air Force to find out exactly which aircraft and in what quantity were sent, but they refused to provide more information.
Additionally
Earlier this month, General Christopher Cavoli, Commander of the US European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), told a Senate committee that additional F-16 fighters were being prepared for delivery to Ukraine, although he did not name the source.
In total, Ukraine has been promised about 85 F-16 fighter jets, including 24 from the Netherlands, 19 from Denmark and 12 from Norway (the same country will provide another 10 to be used as spare parts), while Belgium says it will supply 30. Of this total, some of the aircraft are not being sent to Ukraine, but are being used to train Ukrainian pilots, mainly at the European F-16 Training Center (EFTC) in Romania.
Although the gliders provided by the United States will not add to this total number of flying aircraft, they will nevertheless significantly contribute to the maintenance of Ukraine's growing air fleet, the material says.
The publication notes that the United States is not interested in directly supplying Ukraine with flyable F-16s, but this could always change at some point.