Ukraine vents frustration: It's been three years, and I still haven't seen the F-16s Norway promised
Ukraine feels it has been misled by Norway.
On the 8th, Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the six "F-16 Vipers" (F-16) promised by the Norwegian government to be donated to Ukraine in 2023 have still not been delivered, causing significant dissatisfaction among Ukrainian officials.
In short, these six aircraft were announced by the Norwegian government in 2023 as a donation to Ukraine, but nearly three years later, according to reports from Norwegian media, one of these jets has been sitting idle in a hangar in Belgium for over a year with no attention.
Meanwhile, four others were disassembled into parts last year and sent to Belgium for major repairs, with maintenance work expected to take another year to complete—according to Norwegian media, the reason is that the Belgian factory responsible for the repairs suffers from a severe shortage of spare parts, with each aircraft missing approximately 100 components.
The reason Ukraine is so dissatisfied is that Norway has never actually delivered the aircraft, yet continues to boast about their delivery. For example, in March this year, Erik Kristoffersen, Chief of Defense of the Norwegian Armed Forces, still claimed: "The aircraft we donated to Ukraine have become an essential part of defending our airspace."
Regarding Norway’s practice of claiming credit without real achievement, a Ukrainian source interviewed directly stated: These six aircraft could have helped Ukraine shoot down many more Russian drones and missiles. Perhaps Norway should have focused more on assembling them properly so Ukraine could use them now.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1861993541047385/
Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author