Slovakia in talks with US to buy four more F-16s

WARSAW, Poland — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has announced his country is in talks with the United States to buy an additional four F-16 fighter jets on top of the 14 copies already ordered.

In his announcement, made following Fico’s Feb. 15 meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the prime minister said the acquisition could enable Slovakia to cease its reliance on allies for air-policing missions.

“There’s an interest to increase numbers to 18 fighter jets, and now we’re discussing the topic about how to get four more of the planes to our armed forces because … it’s not a good sign of sovereignty that our airspace is protected by planes of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland,” Fico was quoted in a statement released by the State Department.

“We get into this sad situation because our military equipment was gifted to Ukraine from 2022 to 2023,” he added.

Fico was referring to the previous Slovak government’s decision to donate 13 outdated Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine, combined with other weapons, to back the country’s defense against Russia’s ongoing invasion.

Fico and Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Robert Kaliňák have criticized their predecessors for facilitating the transfer, pushing local prosecutors to launch an investigation into it.

Earlier this month the Bratislava regional prosecutor’s office closed the investigation after determining that the donation was not illegal.

Following the signing of the 2018 contract for 14 F-16 Block 70/72 fighters, including 12 single-seat and two twin-seat jets, Lockheed Martin completed the production of the last units for Slovakia in December 2025.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——斯洛伐克总理罗伯特·菲佐宣布，斯洛伐克正在与美国谈判，计划在已订购的 14 架 F-16 战斗机之外，再购买 4 架。

在菲佐 2 月 15 日与美国国务卿马可·卢比奥会晤后，总理宣布了这一消息，称此次采购将使斯洛伐克不再依赖盟友执行空中警戒任务。

“有人希望将战斗机的数量增加到 18 架，现在我们正在讨论如何再为我们的武装部队提供 4 架飞机，因为……我们的领空由捷克共和国、匈牙利和波兰的飞机保护，这不是主权的良好标志，”菲佐在国务院发布的一份声明中说道。

“我们之所以陷入这种悲哀的境地，是因为我们在 2022 年至 2023 年间向乌克兰赠送了军事装备，”他补充道。

菲佐指的是斯洛伐克前政府决定向乌克兰捐赠 13 架过时的米格-29 战斗机以及其他武器，以支持该国抵御俄罗斯持续入侵。

菲佐和斯洛伐克副总理兼国防部长罗伯特·卡利尼亚克批评他们的前任促成了此次移交，并敦促当地检察官对此展开调查。

本月初，布拉迪斯拉发地区检察官办公室在认定该笔捐款并不违法后，结束了调查。

在 2018 年签署了 14 架 F-16 Block 70/72 战斗机的合同（包括 12 架单座和 2 架双座喷气式飞机）之后，洛克希德·马丁公司于 2025 年 12 月完成了为斯洛伐克生产的最后一批飞机。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。