Denmark Nearer to Donating F-16s to Ukraine

Denmark will retire its fleet of F-16 fighters sooner than deliberate, the Danish protection minister stated Monday, elevating the chance that quite a few them can be donated to Ukraine.

The warplanes can be retired by 2025 as an alternative of 2027 because the substitute F-35 plane from the USA “will be phased in and made operational sooner than deliberate,” appearing Protection Minister Troels Lund Poulsen advised public broadcaster DR.

“Consequently, we are actually in a scenario the place the F-16s will be retired earlier,” he advised the broadcaster.

In response to DR, a doc submitted to parliament had proven that the F-16s had been scheduled to stay in service till 2027.

Denmark is at present finalizing preparations for the coaching of Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s on Danish soil, which the nation hopes to start earlier than the tip of the summer time.

“Now that we have now taken the step of beginning a coaching and schooling program for the Ukrainian pilots, we may also have to think about whether or not we should always make a particular donation of Danish F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine and what number of there must be,” Poulsen stated.

Nonetheless, the F-16s “will stay in Denmark till 2024,” the minister added.

The Danish air pressure has 43 F-16s, round 30 of that are in service, and the Nordic nation lately started receiving its first fifth-generation F-35s which can change them.