F-16s Will 'Start Off' Ukraine’s Shift To Western Equipment, Tactics, Commander Says

RAF FAIRFORD, England—The imminent arrival of F-16s for Ukraine will not be a silver bullet, but instead are the early stages of the longer process of bringing the nation’s armed forces into Western tactics and equipment, the top U.S. Air Force and NATO air officer in Europe says.

Air Force Gen. James Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and leader of NATO’s Allied Air Command, says Ukrainian pilots will not mean air superiority within weeks. “It’s going to be a process that we’ll go through, but at least we’re starting,” Hecker says.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at the NATO summit earlier this month in Washington, said the Lockheed Martin-made F-16s will be flying in Ukrainian skies this summer. It is the culmination of a long process that includes training inside the U.S. and in multiple locations across Europe, as well as the current and future donations of aircraft from Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway.

“I think the big thing here is this is a start to getting Ukraine into Western equipment, Western tactics, Western doctrine and Western thinking,” Hecker told reporters here at the Royal International Air Tattoo.

The process will follow that of other former Eastern Bloc nations that have joined NATO and adopted Western aircraft. It will take time to be able to effectively operate the aircraft with enough personnel, along with the logistics support required.

“This doesn’t happen overnight, but you’ve got to start that, and we’re getting pretty close to starting,” he says.

Ukraine has largely been successful during the war at keeping its aircraft safe by being agile— for example, by never taking off and landing from the same base. The Ukrainian Air Force has done this with its current fleet of MiG-29s and Su-24s, and now will need to replicate that with F-16s. It will be a challenge, since not all airfields across the country will be able to service the new aircraft, Hecker says.

Operationally, Russia has adapted its tactics by more quickly targeting and striking, Hecker says. Moscow has increasingly been using ballistic missiles provided by North Korea for this, so Ukraine’s partners need to provide the right defenses to protect against them—along with increasing proliferation of one-way attack uncrewed aircraft systems.

Hecker says he was more worried about Ukraine’s future “a couple months ago” as the nation’s munitions stocks were depleted and international political pressure had slowed resupply. That has since largely been alleviated, as efforts such as the international Ukraine Contract Group have provided more systems needed for both defense and offense, he says.