The country's Defense Ministry found three excuses.
F-16
The Belgian French-language publication Le Soir reports that the country will not fulfill its commitment to deliver the first F-16 aircraft to Ukraine by the end of 2024.
As explained by the Belgian Defense Ministry, the fighters are delayed due to “an insufficient number of trained Ukrainian pilots, as well as a lack of spare parts.” In addition, Brussels pointed to the failure to meet the deadlines for receiving the latest F-35 aircraft from the American company Lockheed Martin.
Earlier, Belgium, as part of the F-16 coalition, which also includes Denmark and the Netherlands, committed to transfer 30 fighters to Ukraine by 2028. This point is specified in the bilateral security agreement that the countries signed in May.
- Belgium claims that it will increase its rapid reaction forces within NATO by 3-4 times.
