F‑16 delivery to Ukraine: Are American jets combat-ready?

Handing over F-16s to Ukraine has been declared by the authorities of the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Belgium. However, in the video of the official handover of the fighter jets to Ukrainian soldiers, an important detail suggests that the machines that arrived on the front line shouldn't technically be there. Many indications point towards the Americans as the suppliers, and – what's more – the jets are most likely not combat-ready.

The Ukrainians had long awaited the delivery of F-16s for battle. Finally, the machines have reached the defenders, as confirmed by the appearance of official photos and videos depicting the fighter jets.

However, as noted by the Ukrainian portal Defense Express, which cites analyses by Western experts, the two visible F-16s are a "rather specific version". The only country that could have supplied them is the United States, which seemingly – as it might have appeared – did not participate in handing over the fighter jets to Ukraine.

"These are the planes that were behind Volodymyr Zelensky and differ from the other two that were flying and armed," it reads. This is what attracted the most attention from analysts. The detail that suggests the supplier of these planes was not any European country is the friend-or-foe antenna placed in front of the pilot's cockpit.

The sharp shape of the antenna is characteristic of a special version of the F-16A. Additionally, a spotlight on the right side of the structure identifies the machine as the F-16A ADF version.

This significantly narrows down the list of potential countries that could have supplied this equipment to essentially one country – the USA. This fighter version was prepared exclusively for the needs of the United States, specifically the American National Guard. It is worth noting, however, that it was also exported to Jordan and Thailand and leased in Italy.

Notably, only one of the two F-16s standing behind Zelensky has a spotlight on the fuselage. The other – although it also has specific antennae – looks slightly different. However, both fighter jets lack the standard 0.8-inch automatic guns and the technical labels – it reads. Analysts believe this may indicate that the likely US-origin fighter jets were handed over as false targets.

Defense Express explains that in practice, the two F-16A ADF units are probably unfit for flight and were obtained to function as decoys. It also cannot be ruled out that the fighter jets visible in the recording are high-quality mock-ups.

No scenario can be confirmed since the aircraft remained stationary – if they are indeed real machines, they may have been withdrawn from the U.S. Army for some reason and sent to Ukraine to serve as tools for luring Russian missiles.