This Is How Ukraine's F-16s Hide From Russian Drones
Ukraine’s F-16s operate from night from small airstrips while under constant threat of Russian attack
Ukraine is losing fewer of its precious F-16 fighters
The F-16s operate from small airstrips where the Russians may struggle to find them
Ground crews work fast under difficult conditions
Sometimes Russian drone or missiles are already overhead as the F-16s take off
To preserve its precious fleet of American-designed Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters, the Ukrainian air force spreads out, fights at night—and works fast.
Russian missiles and drones are a constant threat as air force ground crews fuel and arm the single-engine, single-seat, supersonic F-16s. The crews hurry to get a jet off the ground before the Russian munitions barrel in, one maintainer said in a recent official video. “Prepare the plane, put the pilot in it and hide in the shelter,” is how he described his nightly labor.
There are too few ground crews, spare parts and weapons for the nimble F-16s, 85 of which Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands and Norway have pledged to Ukraine from their own surplus stocks. “The work is quite difficult and intensive because there are shortages,” a second maintainer said in the same video.
But the hard-working ground crews have gained invaluable experience since the first operational F-16s arrived in Ukraine in August 2024. The air force lost four of the hard-to-replace jets in the first 10 months of ops. It hasn’t lost any since June, even as more F-16s arrive—the 50th may already be in Ukraine—and the overall pace of sorties increase.
The F-16 is about to become the most numerous type in service with the Ukrainian air force, outnumbering ex-Soviet Mikoyan MiG-29s and Sukhoi Su-27s. The F-16 is a stopgap for the battered air force, however. Ukraine recently inked a deal with Sweden that could eventually equip the air force with 250 new Saab JAS-39s, also known as Gripens.