Ukraine's first F-16s from the Netherlands will arrive 'soon,' defense minister says, with export licenses now issued
The Netherlands said the first F-16s it's giving to Ukraine are due to arrive in the country "soon."
Denmark also said the F-16s it's giving to Ukraine are due to arrive this summer.
Military experts say the jets will aid Ukraine's fight against Russia but won't be a total game changer.
The first F-16s that Ukraine is to receive from the Netherlands are due to arrive "soon," according to the Dutch defense minister, who said that export licenses for the fighter jets had now been issued.
Kajsa Ollongren said on Monday that the delivery of the "first aircraft will proceed soon," Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported, according to a translation by the Kyiv Independent.
She did not say exactly when they would arrive, or give any other details about their delivery, stating that there were "operational security" concerns.
Denmark, another Ukrainian ally that is providing it with F-16s, has said that its first jets are due to arrive in Ukraine this summer.
It's unclear which of the jets will arrive first.
Ukraine has been promised an estimated 85 jets from Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Belgium. This includes 24 from the Netherlands.
Military experts say they expect the aircraft to be a boost for Ukraine, though not a total game changer in its fightback against Russia's invasion.
Multiple experts previously told Business Insider that they expect the jets to boost Ukraine's air defenses by shooting down Russian drones and missiles, replenish the Ukrainian aircraft already lost to Russia, and deter Russian jets.
They said the jets could also do some limited raids close to the front lines or even into Russian territory to hit high-value targets, but that they expect such events to be limited as it would put the F-16s in extreme danger.
However, some said that not enough jets had been promised to Ukraine to make a major difference, particularly during this summer when only a proportion of the ones promised are likely to arrive.
Some experts also said that Ukraine's allies should have pledged the jets earlier, as it would have meant that areas like training and integrating the aircraft into Ukraine's military would have been solved earlier.
"If the West donated F-16s a year earlier, then most of these problems would be solved by now," Michael Clarke, a Russia and Ukraine expert and a British national security advisor, told BI.
"But as usual, we left it until the last possible moment when it would make a difference and then expected the Ukrainians to work miracles with them, which is not going to happen," he added.
Ukraine has been asking for F-16s since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022, but the US only dropped its opposition to allies sending the US-made planes in May 2023.
Experts previously told BI that Ukraine also had not been promised enough.
Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and a defense-strategy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told BI that it's unfair to expect Ukraine to make any breakthroughs with the jets unless it gets many more.
He said the US has major dominance in the air because it employs "hundreds of aircraft with extensive support systems on the ground," and expecting Ukraine to be similarly dominant would not be fair.
Even so, he said: "Whenever they arrive, that's a good time for Ukraine."
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