State Department OKs $310 Million Training and Sustainment Deal for Ukraine’s F-16s

The US has been providing Ukraine with non-operational F-16 fighter jets for spare parts

The State Department has approved a potential $310.5 million arms sale to Ukraine for training and sustainment of the country’s fleet of US-made F-16 fighter jets, signaling that the Trump administration is preparing to provide long-term military support.

The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said the sale will include aircraft modifications, upgrades, personnel training, maintenance, sustainment support, and other types of equipment.

Several of the US’s European allies have provided Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, and the US, under the Biden administration, was involved in training Ukrainian pilots. A report from The War Zone just revealed that the US has been providing Ukraine with decommissioned, non-operational F-16 fighter jets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sits in an F-16 at an airbase in Denmark on August 20, 2023 (photo from the Office of the Ukrainian President)

A US Air Force spokesman told The War Zone that the Air Force has “supported the sustainment of European-donated F-16s to Ukraine by providing disused and completely non-operational F-16s to Ukraine for parts. These F-16s were retired from active US use and are not flyable. Importantly, they lack critical components such as an engine or radar and could not be reconstituted for operational use.”

The approval of the F-16 training and sustainment deal came a few days after the Trump administration moved forward with its very first arms sale for Ukraine by notifying Congress of its plans to approve the export of unspecified “defense articles” worth $50 million or more.

That first sale is being moved forward as a direct commercial sale (DCS), a deal where the State Department gives a private company permission to sell weapons directly to a foreign government. The F-16 training and sustainment deal is a Foreign Military Sale (FMS), which involves the US government in the sale.

The US-Ukraine minerals deal signed last week also signals that the US is planning to provide long-term military support. Under the agreement, future US military aid will count as a contribution to a joint US-Ukraine investment fund.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.