US Air Force sending ‘boneyard' F-16s to Ukraine for spare parts
The U.S. Air Force is pulling old and nonoperational F-16s out of its airplane graveyard known as 'the boneyard' to send to Ukraine for spare parts.
An Air Force spokesperson confirmed the donated F-16s are coming from the service's 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. The planes will be cannibalized for parts that Ukraine can use to keep their European-donated F-16s flying, but the service stressed the American F-16s have been gutted of key parts and couldn't be used operationally.
'The [Department of the Air Force] has supported the sustainment of European-donated F-16s to Ukraine by providing disused and completely nonoperational F-16s to Ukraine for parts,' the spokesperson said. 'These F-16s were retired from active U.S. 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 State Department also on Friday approved a possible foreign military sale to Ukraine, worth about $310.5 million, to sustain the besieged nation's F-16s and train its pilots and maintainers.
The sale includes spare parts and accessories, modifications and upgrades to the jets, ground handling equipment, publications and technical documents, software delivery and support, engineering, technical and logistics support and training for operations, maintenance and sustainment support.
The State Department said this will support the U.S.'s foreign policy goals and national security objectives 'by improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe.'
The equipment and training sale will improve Ukraine's ability to defend itself by making sure its pilots are trained, the department said, and making it more interoperable with the U.S. through training with the Air Force.
Since the beginning of Russia's invasion, Ukraine has urged its Western allies to send it modern, fourth-generation fighters to modernize its air force and improve its ability to defend itself. When the war began in February 2022, Ukraine had at most 69 MiG-29 Fulcrum and Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker jets.
But the U.S. was initially hesitant to agree to Ukraine's requests. Top defense officials and some lawmakers said it was unclear whether jets such as the F-16 would provide Ukraine enough of an advantage, and the Pentagon instead focused first on providing other assets such as critical munitions.
Former President Joe Biden in August 2023 cleared the way for F-16s to go to Ukraine, with the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Belgium either having already donated the jets or pledging to do so.
Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, head of U.S. European Command, told lawmakers in a hearing last month that F-16s have helped Ukraine shore up its defenses and that more jets are on the way.
'There are more F-16s prepared to be deployed in [Ukraine],' Cavoli told the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 3. 'There are more pilots in the training pipeline. … The planes are active and they fly every day. They've defeated a large number of cruise missile threats and they've delivered an awful lot of offensive attacks as well' along Ukraine's eastern front.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What UK's Strategic Defense Review means for Ukraine
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on June 2 that the United Kingdom is moving to "warfighting readiness," in large part in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the threat Russia poses to Europe. He made the comment as his government unveiled its latest Strategic Defense Review, which U.K. General Richard Barrons, one of the review's authors, described as the "most profound" change in U.K. defense in 150 years. The review sets out ambitious new targets, including at least 12 new attack submarines, fleets of drones and autonomous vehicles, as well as 7,000 new long-range weapons. Yet it also comes with urgent warnings. The review reveals that the U.K.'s Armed Forces are currently unprepared to fight adversaries such as Russia or China, nor could they conduct high-intensity warfare in a war like that in Ukraine. Insufficient munition stockpiles, low troop numbers, and ageing equipment are just a few of the weaknesses underpinning its assessment. "The speed of development in Ukraine is so far ahead of what countries like the U.K. is capable of." But as well as committing to bolstering its own defense capabilities, the U.K. must also manage the commitments already made to Kyiv, which it has vowed to support with a "100-year partnership." The U.K. has been one of Kyiv's closest supporters since the start of the full-scale invasion, and the review reiterates long-term support for Ukraine, committing 3 billion pounds ($4.06 billion) annually in military aid. "The bottom line is that all of this is about defending the U.K. after the conflict moves on from Ukraine primarily," Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, a U.K.-based think tank, told the Kyiv Independent. "Whether it's positive, negative, or catastrophic, either way, that's when the U.K. and its allies need to be ready for Russia's next move." The U.K. wants to create a more flexible procurement process, as demonstrated by that developed by Ukraine throughout the full-scale invasion, a dynamic it says would be vital should the U.K. deploy troops in support of a ceasefire. The review urges deeper defense industrial collaboration, including joint ventures and helping Ukraine access global markets, as well as rebuilding and sustaining its defense sector. This could include helping Ukraine service Soviet-era equipment still used abroad. The U.K. also aims to learn from Ukraine's experience in modern warfare, particularly in land combat, drones, and hybrid threats. However, the review highlights challenges — U.K. stockpiles of weapons such as Storm Shadow long-range missiles have been depleted through its support to Ukraine, and years of underinvestment have weakened domestic defense capacity. The U.K. has announced that it will build six new munition factories. This indicates a significant attempt to address one of the key criticisms of European defense, which is its lack of industrial base and reliance on U.S. support. While U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey has said that "we should expect to see new factories opening very soon," it is not clear how quickly this will translate into meaningful battlefield assistance for Ukraine's Armed Forces. "The speed of development in Ukraine is so far ahead of what countries like the U.K. are capable of, the best-case outcome for Ukraine would just be sending the money there to build stuff," Giles said. When asked how Ukraine could be best supported outside of the recommendations in the review, Giles said the "maximum support" should be given to Ukraine, without the hesitancy about doing damage to Russia." We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NATO secretary general: Russia may attack NATO within five years
Russia is building up its military capabilities and will be ready to use military force against NATO states within five years. Source: European Pravda; NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during a speech at Chatham House in London on 9 June Quote: "Russia could be ready to use military force against NATO within five years. Russia has teamed up with China, North Korea and Iran. They are expanding their militaries and their capabilities. Putin's war machine is speeding up, not slowing down. Russia is reconstituting its forces with Chinese technology and producing more weapons faster than we thought," Rutte explained. The NATO secretary general said that Russia produces as many munitions in three months as all NATO countries produce in a year. "And its defence industrial base is expected to roll out 1,500 tanks, 3,000 armoured vehicles and 200 Iskander missiles this year alone. Let's not kid ourselves. We are all on the eastern flank now. The new generation of Russian missiles travel at many times the speed of sound. The distance between European capitals is only a matter of minutes. There is no longer east or west. There is just NATO," Rutte said. Background: Andrius Kubilius, European Commissioner for Defence and Space, shared the assessment of Western intelligence that a Russian attack on EU states could occur within the next few years. The German Federal Intelligence Service believes that Russia sees itself in a systemic conflict with the West and is preparing for a major war with NATO. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Obama's Doctor Gives Telling Update on Biden's Health Amid His Aggressive Cancer Diagnosis
Ever since former President Joe Biden announced his cancer diagnosis, there have been questions about his health. This is pretty much on par for the course; the same has happened to public figures like King Charles and Kate Middleton, too, after their own diagnosis. It's just that a lot of the conversation regarding Joe Biden's health has to do with the question of whether he should have run for a second term in office. It matters not that, in the end, Kamala Harris took over or that she lost the election anyway. Now, Barack Obama's former physician is adding to the questions surrounding Biden. Jeffrey Kuhlman said in an interview that the former President's doctor should have given him a cognitive test during his final year as president due to his age. The last report by White House physician Kevin O'Connor in February 2024 didn't include any mention of neurocognitive testing. Biden was 81 at the time. More from StyleCaster Obama Just Got Roped into Diddy's Trial in Shocking Claim King Charles Responds to Joe Biden's 'Aggressive' Cancer After Their Eerily Similar Diagnoses Related: Here are the celebrities who support Donald Trump 'Sometimes those closest to the tree miss the forest,' Kuhlman said of O'Connor, who also expressed that such a test would have given voters a clearer picture of whether Biden was up for another 4 years in the Presidency. 'It shouldn't be just health, it should be fitness,' Kuhlman said. 'Fitness is: Do you have that robust mind, body, spirit that you can do this physically, mentally, emotionally demanding job?' But Kuhlman stopped short of saying there was a conspiracy, calling O'Connor 'a good doctor' who seemed to do his best to 'give trusted medical advice.' 'I didn't see that he's purposely hiding stuff, but I don't know that,' he added. 'Maybe the investigation will show it.' This criticism comes as Republicans subpoenaed O'Connor and President Donald Trump ordered White House attorneys to determine if Biden's inner circle tried to conceal his alleged cognitive decline. Biden's diagnosis is of metastatic prostate cancer, the kind of diagnosis that sheds no light on his mental health, but reports about Biden's alleged decline have run rampant even before he stepped aside to allow his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to run. These claims were in many ways strengthened by the book published by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, titled Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. The book is based on interviews with Democratic insiders. Biden's response to this whole thing was telling. During a Memorial Day event, the former President said. 'You can see that I'm mentally incompetent, and I can't walk, and I can beat the hell out of both of them,' he told reporters. Meanwhile, his granddaughter, Naomi Biden, called the book 'political fairy smut.' The Republicans will continue to investigate the matter, but the facts remain that Joe Biden isn't President anymore, and he didn't even stay in the race until the end in 2024. If there was, indeed, a cognitive decline on his part, it clearly hurt the Democrats more than the Republicans and, perhaps, the party in power should be thankful for that. Best of StyleCaster The 26 Best Romantic Comedies to Watch if You Want to Know What Love Feels Like These 'Bachelor' Secrets & Rules Prove What Happens Behind the Scenes Is So Much Juicier BTS's 7 Members Were Discovered in the Most Unconventional Ways