Netherlands halts F-16 sale to US firm, will send to Ukraine instead

PARIS — The Netherlands scrapped plans to sell six F-16 fighter jets to a U.S. company and will prepare the planes for delivery to Ukraine instead, according to the Dutch Defence Ministry.

The agreement increases the number of Dutch aircraft that will be handed over to the embattled country to 24, it said.

The Dutch had been negotiating with Draken International, a Lakeland, Florida-based provider of adversarial training services to the U.S. Air Force, after a deal to sell the company 12 F-16s fell through last year. The two parties ended talks on a new agreement for six F-16s after they concluded that the sale and delivery of the aircraft won’t happen in the short term, the Netherlands said in a statement.

The Netherlands, together with Denmark, is leading a European effort to provide Ukraine with F-16 capabilities. In November it sent the first of 18 aircraft to Romania for pilot training . The planned transfer of jets will replace losses Ukraine has suffered in its war with Russia, as well as provide more powerful radar and integration with NATO-standard weapon systems.

“Ukraine’s aerial superiority is essential for countering Russian aggression,” Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren said in a post on X Monday.

The F-16s being prepared for handover to Ukraine are still in use by the Netherlands Royal Air Force, Defence Ministry spokesman Mark van de Beek told Defense News. The 18 aircraft being provided for training will remain property of the Netherlands. Of those aircraft, five are already in Romania, with the remainder to follow by the end of June, Van de Beek said.

The Dutch had agreed in 2021 to sell 12 F-16s to Draken for training use in the U.S., with an option for another 28 aircraft. That deal fell apart following a “disagreement on the state of maintenance” of the jets at time of handover, the government reported in June .

The F-16s will help Ukraine supress Russian air defense systems and may ease the strain on the country’s own air defenses by intercepting cruise missiles, analysts say . Russia has so far enjoyed a decisive advantage in radar and air-to-air missile capabilities, and F-16s will be an upgrade from Ukraine’s older jets, according to analysts at the Atlantic Council.

The Dutch fleet that once totaled 138 F-16s received a €750 million midlife update between 1998 and 2002 that increased capabilities to equivalent of the Block 50/52 upgrade that first became operational with the U.S. Air Force in 1994. Those aircraft are equipped with the HARM radar targeting system.

The Netherlands acquired the F-35 to replace its fleet of F-16s. The Defence Ministry says it will stop operating the F-16 by October and it will no longer have capacity to maintain the remaining older jets in flying condition after September.

The Dutch government has insisted a number of conditions are met before it hands over the F-16s to Ukraine, including having airfields suitable to operate the fighter and sufficient trained personnel for maintenance.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——荷兰国防部表示，荷兰取消了向一家美国公司出售六架F-16战斗机的计划，并将准备把这些飞机交付给乌克兰。

该协议将向这个陷入困境的国家移交的荷兰飞机数量增加到 24 架。

去年，荷兰与总部位于佛罗里达州莱克兰市的德拉肯国际公司（Draken International）达成的12架F-16战斗机出售协议破裂后，双方一直在就新的6架F-16战斗机协议进行谈判。德拉肯国际公司是一家为美国空军提供对抗训练服务的公司。荷兰在一份声明中表示，双方最终认为短期内无法完成飞机的销售和交付，因此终止了相关谈判。

荷兰与丹麦共同牵头，领导欧洲向乌克兰提供F-16战斗机的行动。去年11月，荷兰向罗马尼亚交付了首批18架F-16战斗机，用于飞行员培训。此次战机交付计划旨在弥补乌克兰在与俄罗斯战争中遭受的损失，同时还将提供更强大的雷达系统，并使其能够与北约标准的武器系统进行整合。

荷兰国防部长卡伊莎·奥隆格伦周一在X网站上发帖称：“乌克兰的空中优势对于对抗俄罗斯的侵略至关重要。”

荷兰国防部发言人马克·范德贝克告诉《防务新闻》，即将移交给乌克兰的F-16战斗机目前仍在荷兰皇家空军服役。用于训练的18架飞机仍归荷兰所有。范德贝克表示，其中5架飞机已经抵达罗马尼亚，其余飞机将于6月底前陆续抵达。

荷兰在2021年同意向美国“德拉肯”航空母公司出售12架F-16战斗机用于美国训练，并拥有增购28架的选择权。荷兰政府在6月份报告称，由于双方在交付时对战机的维护状况存在“分歧”，该交易最终告吹。

分析人士称，F-16战机将有助于乌克兰压制俄罗斯的防空系统，并通过拦截巡航导弹来缓解乌克兰自身防空系统的压力。大西洋理事会的分析人士指出，俄罗斯迄今为止在雷达和空空导弹能力方面拥有决定性优势，而F-16战机将是对乌克兰老旧战机的升级。

荷兰空军曾经拥有 138 架 F-16 战斗机，在 1998 年至 2002 年间，荷兰空军斥资 7.5 亿欧元对其进行了中期升级，使其性能提升至与 1994 年美国空军首次投入使用的 Block 50/52 升级相当的水平。这些飞机配备了 HARM 雷达瞄准系统。

荷兰采购F-35战机是为了替换其现有的F-16战机。国防部表示，将于10月停止F-16战机的运营，并且9月之后将无力继续维护剩余的老旧战机，使其保持适航状态。

荷兰政府坚持要求乌克兰满足多项条件，才会向其移交 F-16 战斗机，其中包括拥有适合该战斗机运行的机场以及足够的训练有素的维护人员。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。