Dutch F-16s in Romania: Insights into Jets for Ukrainian Training

Romanian journalists showed tail numbers of Dutch F-16 fighter jets that arrived in Romania for Ukrainian pilots’ training.

According to a video by Valahia News, five fighter jets arrived at the Romanian air base.

Three F-16AMs with tail numbers J-010, J-019, J-366 and two F-16BMs with tail numbers J-064 and J-210 are now at the Romanian 86th Air Base “Lieutenant of Aviation Gheorghe Mochornice”.

The fighter jets are intended for use by the European F-16 Training Center.

The Center was created due to cooperation between Romania and the Netherlands in partnership with Lockheed Martin and with the support of Denmark.

Under the cooperation agreement, Romania provides the 86th Air Base, training facilities, and support, while the Netherlands provides F-16 fighter jets. Lockheed Martin provides instructors and maintenance specialists.

F-16s for training of Ukrainians

The Dutch F-16 fighter jets that Ukrainian pilots will be training on are of the Block 20 MLU version.

This modernization is equivalent to Block 50/52. Modernization work was carried out on F-16A/B fighter jets to improve their performance.

F-16BM J-064 fighter jet of the Netherlands Air Force in Romania, November 2023. Frame from the Valahia News video

All five fighter jets are relatively new:

• F-16AM J-010 was built in 1991;
• F-16AM J-019 was built in 1991;
• F-16AM J-366 was built in 1988;
• F-16BM J-064 was built in 1988;
• The F-16BM J-210 was built in 1986.

It is worth noting that the insignia of the Royal Netherlands Air Force was painted over, and only the numbers were left. These fighter jets may be transferred to the Ukrainian Air Force in the future.

In 2022, three of these fighter jets with tail numbers J-210, J-064, and J-010, were in the United States. They were used to train pilots on Viper fighter jets under an international agreement.

The F-16BM with tail number J-064, was reported to have a technical problem. In December 2022, the fighter jet was sent to the Portuguese Air Force hangar for maintenance when it arrived from the United States.