Wopke Hoekstra, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, said that his country is ready to consider with an «open mind» the eventual delivery of F-16 fighters, if Kiev asks for it.
During a parliamentary debate on Thursday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra stated that the Cabinet would consider such a request with an «open mind.» He then stated that there are «no taboos» on the delivery of regular military equipment, adding that the Netherlands only sends items that Ukraine requests.
The fighters in question would be the F-16A/B MLU fighters that the Royal Netherlands Air Force is gradually replacing with the F-35A, advanced fifth-generation fighters. A dozen of these fighters were purchased by Draken US, one of the private aggressor training companies contracted by the USAF to increase the readiness of its pilots.
This is not the first time there has been talk of these aircraft eventually assisting the Ukrainian war effort. In the past, the Dutch government has evaluated handing over some of its surplus F-16s to a NATO ally, which in turn would cede its MiG-29s to Ukraine. Among the most likely candidates for the «swap» were Poland (which already operates more advanced versions of the F-16) and Slovakia, which had even negotiated with the Czech Republic and Poland to take over the defense of its airspace, in the eventuality of transferring the Fulcrum to Ukraine. However, there are no clear indications that this scenario has materialized.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian Air Force has been asking its Western allies for months for the transfer of modern fighters, with which to challenge the airspace supremacy currently held by the Russian Su-35, and although certain studies suggested that the best fighters to send to Ukraine would be the Saab Gripen, it is highly probable that Kiev will formally ask for F-16s from the Netherlands. However, such a transfer has to be authorized by Washington first, as is the case with any US-sourced weapons system.
