A dramatic photo of a Ukrainian air force Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter hauling a heavy load of missiles, bombs and electronic warfare equipment into battle somewhere over Ukraine is a stark reminder of what Kyiv's force's could lose as the latest ultimatum from the White House looms.
The single-engine, supersonic F-16—one of around 90 that a consortium of Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway has pledged to Ukraine—can be seen with AIM-9 infrared-guided air-to-air missiles, AIM-120 radar-guided air-to-air missiles, GBU-39 precision glide bombs, and, most strikingly, an AN/ALQ-131 jamming pod.
Ukraine's surviving F-16s—four have been lost—can do a lot of things. Shoot down Russian missiles and drones and bomb Russian troops. But they're also the Ukrainian air force's best electronic protection.
With their AN/ALQ-131 pods and other electronic warfare kit, the F-16s can detect and jam Russian radars—not only protecting themselves from Russian air defenses, but also extending that protection over nearby Ukrainian jets that don't have similar E.W. equipment. In particular, Ukraine's ex-Soviet MiGs and Sukhois routinely fly with no protection at all.
It's not for no reason that the Ukrainian air force began organizing complex strike packages mixing Soviet- and Western-designed warplanes only after the first F-16s arrived in August 2024, followed a few months later by the first ex-French Dassault Mirage 2000s, which also carry jamming gear.
"Sometimes when we arrive, there are already F-16s waiting there, or sometimes Mirages," a Ukrainian fighter pilot said in an official video from March. The F-16s and Mirages "either cover the whole package that is sent there to [strike] our enemies, or also strike [themselves]," the pilot said.
The F-16s' AN/ALQ-131 in particular can "give you a pocket of air superiority for a moment’s time to achieve an objective that has strategic importance and impact," a US Air Force official explained.
Trending Now
Vital American assistance
But there's a catch. The AN/ALQ-131 pods, which emit powerful radio signals to scramble the enemy's own signals, require constant reprogramming. When the Russians change their frequencies, the Ukrainians must also change their own frequencies. It's a non-stop electronic race.
That reprogramming is a highly specialized task. And unless something has changed recently, it's a task that the US Air Force performs on behalf of the Ukrainian Air Force. Working with data provided by Denmark and Norway, and staging some of its members in Europe, the Florida-based 68th Electronic Warfare Squadron handles the reprogramming.
"This is not our standard operating procedure," the USAF official said. And it's not clear whether the Ukrainian air force or some allied European air force can take over.
So when the administration of US Pres. Donald Trump and the regime of Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin secretly negotiated a so-called "peace deal" to end Russia's 45-month wider war on Ukraine, it imperiled the F-16s' unique jamming capability. The White House has threatened to withhold further US assistance to Ukraine unless Kyiv accepts the deal, which would hand Russia large swathes of Ukraine without safeguarding Ukraine's future security.
Zelenskyy has already rejected the deal, while also offering to negotiate a more equitable peace. It's not yet clear what happens next. But another suspension of US aid to Ukraine is possible—and it may be more lasting than the previous suspension early this year.
Any interruption in US assistance could hamstring the Ukrainian air force's best aerial jammers, its F-16s. The Mirages could take over, but there are just a handful of the ex-French jets in Ukraine after one crashed in July.
