The United States is preparing to approve its first military equipment sale to Ukraine since Donald Trump returned to office, but recent developments suggest that Washington’s support for Kyiv is being shaped as much by political compromise as by battlefield necessity. Even as the State Department authorizes a proposed $50 million defense export package, the F-16s Ukraine just received from the U.S. won’t be flying over combat zones anytime soon—they’re grounded.
Late last month, Ukraine took delivery of several F-16 airframes from the United States. But these fighter jets, long requested by Ukrainian officials and considered a game-changing addition to Kyiv’s air force, arrived in pieces. Engines, radars, and wings were stripped. These are not combat-ready aircraft but cannibalized jets pulled from long-term storage in the American desert. Their mission? Spare parts.
Images that surfaced online in late April showed an Antonov An-124 cargo aircraft being loaded with at least three shrink-wrapped F-16 airframes at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. The aircraft were later seen arriving at Rzeszów Airport in southeastern Poland, a key logistics hub for Western military support to Ukraine.
Speculation about their purpose initially ran rampant. Were these jets headed to Ukraine for combat use? Or were they intended for use by Poland, which also operates F-16s? The answer came days later, when a senior U.S. Air Force official confirmed to American media that the aircraft were non-operational and were being sent to Ukraine strictly for spare parts.
“These F-16s were retired from active U.S. use and are not flyable,” the spokesperson said. “Importantly, they lack critical components such as an engine or radar and could not be reconstituted for operational use.”
This spare-parts strategy is meant to support Ukraine’s increasingly vital fleet of operational F-16s, which have been donated by European allies including the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway. But it also reveals a hesitation within the Trump administration to cross certain red lines—specifically, delivering lethal American-built fighter jets directly into the hands of Kyiv.
That line, however, may soon blur.
Amid the transfer of these decommissioned jets, reports emerged that the Trump administration is preparing to approve its first major arms sale to Ukraine. The State Department has authorized a proposed license for the export of military equipment valued at $50 million or more. According to a letter submitted to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, this would be the first such authorization since Trump returned to office and promptly suspended all new military aid to Ukraine.
The timing is significant. Just days earlier, Washington and Kyiv reached a new minerals agreement that would secure U.S. access to critical raw materials such as titanium and lithium from Ukraine’s vast reserves. In return, Ukraine is expected to benefit from a thaw in stalled defense cooperation.
While it remains unclear exactly what systems or hardware the upcoming sale includes, experts believe the deal may contain maintenance supplies, sensors, or precision munitions compatible with the F-16 platform—essentials that Ukraine has struggled to source since deliveries began last year.
So far, Ukraine has received 16 operational F-16s from European donors, including Denmark and the Netherlands. Another 69 are expected by the end of 2025, for a total of 85 jets promised. These include 24 from the Netherlands, 19 from Denmark, 12 from Norway, and 30 from Belgium, though some deliveries have been delayed due to a global shortage of spare parts and maintenance capacity.
The aircraft are used primarily for defensive missions, including intercepting cruise missiles, drones, and Russian fighter jets threatening Ukrainian cities or infrastructure. Ukrainian F-16s have been outfitted with AIM-120 AMRAAM radar-guided missiles and AIM-9X Sidewinders for air-to-air combat, as well as JDAM-ER and Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs) for precision strikes on ground targets.
General Christopher Cavoli, the commander of U.S. European Command, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month that Ukraine’s use of the aircraft has already yielded substantial results.
“They fly every day,” Cavoli said. “They’ve defeated a large number of cruise missile threats, and they’ve delivered an awful lot of offensive attacks as well, specifically bombing attacks in the east.”
According to Ukrainian officials, F-16s have been used to intercept Iranian-made Shahed drones, sea-launched Kalibr missiles, and Iskander ballistic missiles launched by Russian forces. The aircraft have also supported Ukrainian troops by flying offensive counter-air missions near the frontlines and launching suppression attacks on enemy radar systems using AGM-88 HARM missiles.
Despite their success, Ukraine has already lost two of its F-16s. The first was destroyed in a crash just weeks after it arrived in the country in August 2024. The second was downed last month in eastern Ukraine, reportedly by a Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system. The pilot was killed and posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.
The S-400, one of the most sophisticated air defense systems in the world, continues to present a significant challenge to Western aircraft operating near contested airspace. Ukrainian pilots must often launch their glide bombs from high altitudes to maximize range—anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 feet—leaving them temporarily vulnerable to Russian radar and missiles.
This vulnerability underscores why spare parts are so critical. With high-tempo operations and frequent exposure to combat stress, Ukraine’s small fleet needs constant maintenance and repair to remain effective.
And that’s where the non-flying F-16s from the U.S. come in.
The decision to send decommissioned F-16s to Ukraine reflects an urgent need to support what military officials call “sustainment operations.” These parts can be scavenged to repair damaged aircraft, reduce dependency on donor countries, and accelerate turnaround times for returning jets to service.
“These are not combat aircraft. They are components,” said a Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “But in many ways, they’re just as valuable. Ukraine can’t afford to ground jets while waiting weeks for a single replacement part from across the Atlantic.”
Some parts—such as hydraulic systems, avionics modules, landing gear, and fuselage panels—are extremely difficult to source outside NATO countries. The hope is that these “donor jets” can be disassembled on-site by Ukrainian technicians and used to keep operational aircraft flying longer and harder.
That said, cannibalizing old F-16s is not a long-term strategy. Military planners agree that Ukraine will need a robust logistics pipeline and eventually its own capability to perform mid-level and deep maintenance if it wants to sustain a large fighter fleet.
When President Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, he wasted no time halting further military aid to Ukraine, fulfilling a campaign promise to end “blank-check support” for Kyiv. Yet his administration has shown signs of pragmatism in recent weeks.
The minerals-for-defense cooperation deal signed this month marked a turning point. Ukrainian access to American defense industry components, and U.S. access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth, signal a more transactional—but not entirely disengaged—approach.
Analysts say that sending non-operational F-16s is a politically safe move: it allows Trump to support a NATO partner without handing over lethal U.S. airpower, which could risk escalation with Russia. However, many believe the door is now open to direct F-16 transfers in the near future.
“Trump is testing the waters,” said Rachel Decker, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “If he sees that providing spare parts doesn’t trigger a backlash—either from Moscow or from his political base—he may go further.”
Ukraine’s government certainly hopes so. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly urged the United States to provide its own F-16s, citing delays and shortages in European deliveries. With multiple Ukrainian pilots now trained in the U.S., and American technicians already helping to maintain Europe-donated jets, the infrastructure is largely in place.
The only thing missing is a decision.
More F-16s—both operational and otherwise—are expected to arrive in Ukraine this year. The primary challenge now is ensuring that those aircraft are properly maintained, supported, and supplied.
A senior Ukrainian defense official recently told local media that Kyiv hopes to acquire up to 10 additional U.S. F-16 airframes solely for spares, and is also negotiating for diagnostic tools and ground-support equipment.
If the United States continues to avoid delivering flyable fighters, it may instead bolster Ukraine’s ability to keep its current fleet combat-ready through indirect support. That would include not just spare aircraft, but technical manuals, software updates, munitions, and possibly newer radars and targeting pods.
In the meantime, Ukraine continues to press forward. Despite two losses, the F-16s have become a core part of the country’s air defense and precision strike operations—capabilities that Ukraine sorely lacked in the war’s early stages.
The arrival of grounded F-16s may not carry the dramatic impact of a front-line squadron flying into combat, but they could make all the difference in whether the jets that are flying stay in the fight.
