The US has agreed to supply advanced missiles and other state-of-the-art weapons for the F-16 fighter jets being supplied to Ukraine by a consortium of its European allies, the Wall Street Journal reported exclusively on Tuesday.
The approximately 80 F-16 fighter jets due to arrive this summer from Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Norway will be supplied with US-made air-to-surface munitions, precision-guidance kits for bombs, and air-to-air missiles, the WSJ wrote.
This latest supply of weapons comes after several months of concern surrounding Ukraine’s dwindling military and weapons supply, including uncertainty over how Ukraine would deploy the F-16s, which are “useless” unless armed, Major General Rolf Folland, chief of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, told WSJ.
In April, the US Senate approved a $61 billion aid package, which could potentially be the last aid package Washington authorises for Ukraine this year, given the presidential election in November.
Now the main challenge faced by Kyiv is meeting the demand for trained F-16 pilots. Some Ukrainians pilots have already begun their training in the UK and France, countries which have never flown the F-16, while others are to undertake flight training in the US and Romania.