Summary

  • Ukraine’s Air Force holds back the Russian counterpart
  • Western allies sent Soviet-era jets and parts
  • First Western-built fighter jets soon to arrive in Ukraine

In 2022, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Over the last 2.5 years of war, the Ukrainian Air Force has fought to hold the Russian Air Force back. Western allies first sent spare parts for Ukraine’s aging Soviet fighter jets, then operational Soviet fighter jets, and now the first Western-built fighter jets are soon to arrive in Ukraine. In addition, Western allies have supplied Ukraine with a large number of mostly Soviet-era helicopters. However, this article will only talk about donated or pledged fighter jets.

Ukraine’s Air Force stays in the fight

At the start of the air war in February 2022, the fight appeared to be a David and Goliath struggle. On paper, Russia had the third-largest air force in the world (after the US Air Force and US Navy), while Ukraine had a comparatively small air force made up exclusively of aging Soviet-era aircraft. It was significantly inferior to its Russian counterpart in almost every way. Making matters worse, Ukraine lost many jets in the War in the Donbas in 2014 and a few jets when Russia occupied Crimea in 2014 (some were returned).

Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-29_(9-13),_Ukraine_-_Air_Force_AN1407459

While the Russian Air Force carried out deep air strikes and flew over Kyiv in the first days of the war, the Ukrainian Air Force (especially the Ukrainian ground-based air defense) inflicted unsustainable losses on the Russian Air Force and drove it out of Ukraine behind the frontline. Since then, the Russian Air Force has been restricted from operating inside Russian-controlled airspace, largely behind the frontline.

But while the Ukrainian Air Force performed admirably, it is not a fight it can sustain forever. Ukraine’s lack of ability to produce its own domestic jets (unlike Russia) means that attrition will always be a losing fight for Ukraine unless it receives replacement aircraft from allies. Russia could always reconstitute its losses and grind Ukraine’s Air Force down (even if it couldn’t smash it in a quick campaign).

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First, the Soviet-era parts

Ukraine’s Western allies have stepped in to ensure the Ukrainian Air Force remains in the fight. At first, only parts for Ukraine’s Soviet aircraft, like the Su-25 ‘Frogfoot’ ground attack and MiG-29 ‘Fulcrum’ multirole fighters, were sent. Reportedly, whole planes were disassembled and shipped as ‘parts.’

A Ukraine Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 Flying in the sky.

Photo: Darwid Lech | Shutterstock

Country:

Type:

Quantity:

North Macedonia:

Su-25

4

Bulgaria:

Su-25

14 (alleged through intermediaries)

Others:

various

unknown number of Soviet jet parts delivered from other countries

As many as 14 Su-25s were allegedly purchased from Bulgaria (by third countries) and shipped to Ukraine. Bulgaria denies shipping aircraft to Ukraine – Bulgaria’s aircraft were sold to NATO allies. The small country of North Macedonia also reportedly sent four non-airworthy Su-25s to Ukraine as parts or to be restored.

These and other covert or semi-covert deliveries helped Ukraine to keep its existing fleet in the air and perhaps refurbish old mothballed Soviet-era aircraft out of commission. Forbes even claimed that despite losses, refurbishments meant Ukraine had more Su-24 bombers two years into the war than at the start.

In April 2024, it was reported that the United States purchased 81 broken and unrepairable Soviet-era fighter jets from Kazakhstan for spare parts and/or as decoys for Ukraine. This report was denied by the government of Kazakhstan.

Second, the overtly sent Soviet-era jets

In early to mid-2023, Poland and Slovakia announced they would send operational MiG-29s to Ukraine. Slovakia decommissioned its entire MiG-29 fleet (around 13 jets) and sent them to Ukraine. This has left Slovakia without a strike fighter jet capability until replacement F-16s arrive.

A Ukraine Air Force Su-24 Flying in the sky.

Country:

Type:

Quantity:

Poland:

MiG-29

14

Slovakia:

MiG-29

10 (some used for spare parts)

Poland also stated it would send 10 MiG-29s to Ukraine (in the end, 14 were sent). According to Politico, Poland needed Germany’s approval to send some of the MiGs to Ukraine because they were from old Soviet-era German-made stocks. This was around half of Poland’s MiG-29 fleet (the Polish Air Force is currently upgrading to F-35s and Korean FA-50GF light multirole fighters.

Related

Sweden To Donate AWACS Aircraft As A Force Multiplier For F-16s

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Third, the Western fighter jets

Soviet fighters are only of limited value and only help to sustain the Ukrainian Air Force’s current limited capabilities. To really go toe-to-toe with the Russian Air Force, Ukraine always needed Western fighter jets. This was seen as too much of an escalation for a long time. Eventually, pressure from Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands helped to persuade the US to allow those countries’ retired US-made F-16s to be donated to Ukraine (later, Belgium pledged another 30 F-16s).

Belgian Air Force F-16 fighter jet plane taking off during NATO exercise Frisian Flag

Photo: VanderWolf Images l Shutterstock

As of June 2024, the deliveries of the first F-16s to Ukraine are considered imminent. However, they will only be slowly delivered, with the last expected to arrive in 2028.

Country:

Type:

Quantity (per Oryx blog):

The Netherlands:

F-16A/B

24+

Norway:

F-16AM/BM

22 (including 10 non-operational for spare parts)

Belgium:

F-16AM/BM

30

Denmark:

F-16AM/BM

19

France:

Mirage 2000-5

unknown

Argentina:

Super-Étendard

5

Sweden:

Saab 340B AEW-300, ASC 890

2 (AWACS, not fighter jet)

After Belgium announced it would send 30 F-16s, Sweden stated it would pause the delivery of Swedish-made Gripens to Ukraine so that Ukraine could concentrate on putting one Western fighter into service at a time. Sweden followed that announcement by saying that it would donate two rare and valuable AWACS aircraft (a considerable force multiplier for the F-16s).

French Air Force Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter jet plane taking off

Photo: VanderWolf Images l Shutterstock

On June 6, 2024, France surprised the world by announcing it would donate an unspecified number of French-made Mirage 2000-5s to Ukraine before the end of the year. Finally (as of the time of writing), Argentina announced it would return five non-operational French-made Super-Étendard fighter jets to France to be repaired and sent to Ukraine.

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