Norway’s promised F-16s for Ukraine remain grounded in Belgium workshop
April 9, 2026
Statements by Norwegian officials have given the impression that promised F-16s have been provided to Ukraine, but that is only half true.
According to a new report by the national Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), none of the F-16 Fighting Falcons Norway pledged to Ukraine are in operation yet.
Norway’s F-16 Fighting Falcon pledge to Ukraine
In August 2023, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced the country would donate F-16s to Ukraine. This was part of the Netherlands and Denmark, also donating their F-16s, with Belgium joining soon after. All four countries are transitioning, or have transitioned, to the F-35.
But after 2.5 years, none of these Norwegian fighter jets have joined the war against Russia. Norway has handed over six F-16s to Ukraine, but two of these were used to train Ukrainian pilots in Denmark and are now in a workshop in Belgium, where it seems they have been for over a year.
The other four were non-flyable when they were delivered by Norway. These were broken down and shipped in crates on a transport aircraft in April 2025 to Belgium. NRK notes these four aircraft are “at the same workshop at the company Sabena in Belgium.”
Added:
— Jakub Janovsky (@Rebel44CZ) June 28, 2025
delivery of 14x F-16 from Norway https://t.co/KFZQ5nRskb
The NRK article only talks about six ex-Norwegian F-16s donated to Ukraine. The open-source Oryx blog says 14 F-16s have been donated; it is unclear why there is a discrepancy, although some may have been sent for parts.
Norwegian F-16s still stuck in Belgium workshop
NRK notes that the issue here is that the Sabena workshop has a significant capacity problem. These four aircraft were shipped in poor condition and were missing around 100 parts each. It will take another year to get them operational if work starts today.
The F-16s that are operational in Ukraine’s air force are the ones donated by Denmark and the Netherlands. These have become vital to the defence of Ukraine from Russian drone and missile attacks. Videos have even emerged of these F-16s shooting down Russian Shahed-type drones with their cannons.
NRK quotes one source as saying, “I don’t want to assign blame, I just note that the four of the Norwegians came in boxes, and that the planes that were donated are not here yet, and we need them now.”
The Norwegian Defence Ministry stated, “The maintenance has been outsourced to the aircraft maintenance company SABENA in Belgium. This solution was chosen when the Norwegian aircraft maintenance company KAMS was fully engaged in preparing 32 F-16 fighter jets that Norway has sold to Romania.”
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Ukrainian pilots who are undergoing F-16 training in Romania. pic.twitter.com/AtZHtf5rzh
— 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝕯𝔢𝔞𝔡 𝕯𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔱△ 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇺🇲🇬🇷 (@TheDeadDistrict) March 13, 2026
Norway phased out the F-16 in active service in 2021 and has become the first nation to complete its F-35 programme of record for 52 aircraft.
Best Norwegian F-16s sent to Romania
Understandably, the best 32 Norwegian F-16s were sent to Romania as that agreement predated its decision to donate its remaining F-16s to Ukraine. In recent years, Romania has retired the last of its ancient MiG-21s and transitioned to the F-16.
Not only were these in the best condition, but they also came with workshop equipment and spare parts.
None of this is news; it was well known that Norwegian F-16s would not be in the best shape. It was known they would need extensive work to make it operational and that some would be used as spare parts. It was considered better than not donating anything.
‼️🇧🇻🇺🇦 It has become known that Norway has transferred more F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine than initially announced.
— Visioner (@visionergeo) June 11, 2025
This information comes from the country's annual report on conventional arms exports and imports, which mentions 14 aircraft. Officially, Norway had declared its… pic.twitter.com/CDl1n0MPz1
The F-16s Ukraine received from Denmark and the Netherlands were taken directly from operational service. Separately, Denmark also sold 24 F-16s to Argentina; it is unclear if these were also the best it had in service.
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