US to provide weapons for Ukrainian F-16s

The United States agreed to provide Ukraine with American-made missiles for F-16 jets, which will be delivered by European allies.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the United States will provide Ukraine with AGM-88 HARM air-to-ground missiles, long-range JDAM munitions that convert unguided bombs into smart weapons, and GLSDB small-sized precision munitions.

The US will also supply Ukraine with AMRAAM medium-range air-to-air missiles and AIM-9X short-range air-to-air missiles.

The Wall Street Journal's sources refused to provide exact dates for the supply of the F-16s and the munitions to Ukraine for security reasons.

An anonymous American official told The Wall Street Journal that the Pentagon has limited stocks of shells and production capabilities, but Ukraine will receive enough to address its most urgent demands.

"We are confident that we will be able to supply all of those [weapons], at least the critical volumes that they need," the US official said.

The European countries of the fighter coalition did not want to send Ukraine a big amount of their own ammunition for the F-16s, so they consented to deliveries from the United States, which is a member of the coalition that has not provided fighter jets.

On 10 July, the leaders of the United States, Denmark and the Netherlands, who head the fighter jet coalition, announced that Ukraine will receive its first F-16s this summer.

According to Bloomberg, Ukraine is expecting to receive six F-16 fighters from its Western partners this summer and a total of up to 20 aircraft by the end of 2024.