Which countries are delaying aircraft deliveries and how many planes are already with the Ukrainian Armed Forces?
Belgium and Norway are delaying the delivery of 36 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, which accounts for almost half of the total promised number of aircraft.
According to RBC-Ukraine, citing Defence Express.
Read also: “This looks like a scandal”: Ukraine has still not received the promised F-16s from Norway
Reasons for the delivery delays
The publication reported that Belgium, which committed to transfer 30 fighter jets, links the pause to delays in receiving American F-35s.
The first new planes arrived in the country only in October last year. Belgian F-16s are expected to be delivered to Ukraine gradually until 2028, although the first aircraft may arrive as early as 2026.
The situation in Norway is different – the country promised 6 aircraft, but all of them are currently undergoing repairs in Belgium.
The restoration process is being hampered by a shortage of spare parts – each aircraft is missing about a hundred components. The Belgian side also stated that Ukraine allegedly requested to postpone deliveries due to a lack of trained pilots.
How many F-16s does Ukraine already have
Overall, the aviation coalition promised to provide Ukraine with 79 fighter jets.
The current situation with deliveries is as follows:
- The Netherlands – has delivered all 24 promised aircraft;
- Denmark – has supplied most of the 19 aircraft (the transfer was planned to be completed by the end of 2025);
- Belgium and Norway – as of April 2026, have not delivered any aircraft.
Considering the four planes lost in combat, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine may currently have up to 39 F-16 units in service.
Problems with F-16 deliveries
It should be noted that the situation with the transfer of fighter jets from individual partners remains complicated. In particular, it turned out that the promised aircraft from Norway are stuck in a repair shop in Belgium, where the restoration process is essentially stalled.
At the same time, Belgium itself has not delivered a single aircraft in three years. In Brussels, the delay is justified by claiming that they never provided Kyiv with specific delivery timelines.
Moreover, the topic of Western aviation remains a primary target for enemy disinformation. Russian propaganda recently spread a fake story that Denmark is allegedly “withdrawing” its fighter jets from Ukraine, although this information is not true and has no official confirmation.
