Article Summary: Ukraine’s long-awaited F-16s have arrived, but significant limitations may hinder their effectiveness. The aircraft, sourced from Denmark and the Netherlands, are older models equipped with outdated AN/APG-66 radars and stripped of Link 16 communication systems—severely limiting their air-to-air capabilities.
Point #1 – Without Link 16, Ukraine’s F-16s can’t fire long-range missiles like the AIM-120 or AGM-158 JASSM, leaving them at a significant disadvantage against Russian fighters and bombers.
Point #2 – While these jets can still assist in downing drones and cruise missiles, experts question whether they can meaningfully shift the balance in Ukraine’s favor without urgent upgrades and additional Western support.
Ukraine’s F-16s Arrive—But Are They Too Outdated to Make an Impact?
Ukraine only received its first F-16 fighter aircraft—used models sent from Denmark—in August 2024.
This was almost two years after the first meetings between the Ukrainian (PSU), Polish (SP), and US Air Forces on the possibility of Kyiv receiving and operating these aircraft.
“This is a very long cycle to deliver aircraft that are used and about to be retired and supposedly that the donor nations were looking for ways to divest themselves of anyway,” said an official from one of the Ukrainian firms that is working with the PSU on supporting the aircraft now that they are in service.
This week, it was reported that Ukraine received additional F-16s, this time more used aircraft from the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF).
When asked if having more F-16s would help the Ukraine Armed Forces, a senior official, to whom 19FortyFive spoke, stated, “More aircraft are always a help, but the issue is which missions can they carry out effectively.”
The F-16 has been marketed for years as a premier multi-role fighter that can perform all missions for all countries in all theaters of operation. “Buy an aircraft – get an air force” has been the long-standing Lockheed Martin (LM) marketing slogan used for years to convince any potential customer nation that this aircraft is the best acquisition decision, as well as value for money possible.
Obstacles and Limitations
Speaking recently with some of the senior Ukrainian support engineering staff working with the F-16s reveals significant problems that just sending more aircraft does not address.
One is that the F-16s delivered to Ukraine are older model F-16s, which are equipped with the mechanically-steered array (MSA) AN/APG-66(V)2 radar, an older model that was superseded in later model F-16s by the AN/APG-68 series. The latest models of the F-16s sold with the latter radar are equipped with the (V)9 model.
A Ukrainian engineer who spoke with 19FortyFive explained, “This is a radar that is less capable even than the versions of the MiG-29’s N019 radar that have been upgraded by our industry. So, it is hard to do much with these aircraft considering what the Russians are putting up against us.”
Making matters worse, he continued, is “all of the aircraft sent to Ukraine thus far have had their Link 16 hardware removed. Without this, the effective ranges at which we are able to engage Russian aircraft is about one-third of the range at which their fighter aircraft can fire on us.”
F-16. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
“This effectively makes it impossible for us to use the F-16 for an air-to-air mission,” he said. “The best we can do is to employ the aircraft in trying to use short-range missiles to shoot down Russian drones or air-launched cruise missiles and glide bombs.”
A potential solution the Ukrainians developed was to “integrate the US-made AIM-9X onto the MiG-29,” said another defense electronics engineer 19FortyFive spoke with. “But when the people from Raytheon (the missile’s manufacturer) found out about this they started peppering us with questions about who gave us permission to use their missile on our aircraft.”
“Can you imagine,” he said. “We are in the middle of a war and our cities are being bombed into rubble and these Raytheon people are asking us where did we get permission.”
Without Link 16, not only are the aircraft unable to fire longer-range air-to-air missiles, which could permit them to take out Russian bomber aircraft before they launch their cruise missiles at Ukrainian cities.
They are also unable to fire the long-range US AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) that could take out Russian bombers while they are still at their bases on the ground.
Configurations of F-16
Most of the aircraft supplied to Ukraine thus far are older-model F-16s equipped with similar Pratt & Whitney F100 engine models. For now, they are working with the same powerplant on each aircraft.
NATO F-16. Image Credit: NATO Flickr.
“If we end up with some of the more advanced model F-16s – the C/D series,” said a Ukrainian support engineer, “that could make using these aircraft even more complicated. We would love to have more aircraft, we would love to have the higher thrust [GE] engine, but we will need more support for the training of our ground crews and more maintenance equipment as well.”
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is now an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.
