The U.S. will supply the spare parts Ukraine's F-16s will need

The F-16 Fighting Falcon could prove to be one of the most consequential weapons that Kyiv’s Western allies have provided Ukraine. However, these advanced fighter jets won’t make much of a difference if they can’t be kept in the air. 

Ever since the United States signed off on the future transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv, the news media has been buzzing with stories about the challenges Ukraine will face in switching from flying Soviet-era jets to modern U.S. jets. 

One good example of the commentary surrounding the issue can be found in an August CNN interview with retired Colonel Mark Cancian, a Senior Advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who explained that Ukraine's F-16 would face challenges. 

Chief among the possible problems Ukraine would need to worry about were the maintenance demands of the F-16. Modern American fighter jets are far more complex than the Soviet-era aircraft the Ukrainian Air Force was flying.

The F-16 requires roughly 16 hours of maintenance per flight according to Col. Cancian, and the cost of such extensive upkeep on the jet could run as $27,000, and that’s before he factored in the issues related to the spare parts required.

“There are tens of thousands of parts on an F-16,” Cancian explained to CNN’, “and that pipeline has to go into Ukraine, so when the plane lands and you taxi it into the hangar and you have to go fix something, the part is on hand.”

Luckily, the United States Department of Defense is already working on a plan to ensure that Ukraine will have all the spare components the country may need to keep its fleet of F-16s in combat-ready condition. Here’s what we know. 

While speaking with Politico on November 14th, Department of Defense Undersecretary of Defense Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante explained that the U.S. would be prepared to have 90 days of spare F-16 parts on hand. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons by media.defense.gov

"That's what we're going through right now ... to make sure it happens," he said in reference to securing a 90-day pipeline of spare parts. "They'll have enough when they get there. We want ... to be sustained.” LaPlante was quoted as saying according to a Department of Defense report. 

LaPlante added that without spare parts, Ukraine's F-16s could be grounded, a situation that his department was working hard to avoid. "We're not going to let that happen," the undersecretary explained in reference to a lack of parts. 

“Just because other countries provide their airplanes, we have to make sure if they don't provide the spares that we find the spares and provide them,” LaPlante went on to state before explaining how the parts would be sourced for Ukraine. 

According to LaPlante, the Department of Defense is not only working with U.S. industry to provide Ukraine with what it will need but is also partnering with America’s European allies and other nations to maintain a steady flow of F-16 components. 

The Ukraine Defense Contact Group, an association set up to help Ukraine and its allies coordinate the transfer of crucial defense arms, has played an essential role in preparing the future supply lines that Kyiv will need to maintain its F-16s. 

"I think what you're going to see is this pivot for U.S. companies and companies around the world to help the Ukrainians build back what they have,” LaPlante noted. This news came just days after an F-16 training center opened in Romania. 

On November 13th, a group of Ukrainian pilots began their first flight training on a batch of five Danish F-16s at a training facility near Bucharest intended to teach Kyiv’s pilots and flight crews how to fly and mount the fighter jet. 

"The training center in Romania will first use the aircraft to provide a refresher course for the hired F-16 instructors,” the Dutch government wrote in a statement, adding that after which it would be provided to Romanian and Ukrainian pilots. 

Roughly 12 to 18 F-16s will be available for the training according to Politico and these jets will only fly in NATO airspace. However, in October the Danish government announced that Ukraine would receive its first batch of F-16s for combat in 2024. 

LaPlante also noted that “complex maintenance” of Ukraine's F-16s will take place in Poland, something the Kyiv Post reported was the first confirmation from a senior U.S. official that NATO planned to support Ukraine’s F-16s.