Earlier, on 11 February, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Robert Kaliňák confirmed that the United States Congress had approved the sale of additional F-16s to Slovakia. The need to acquire further aircraft has been discussed publicly since the previous Slovak government decided to transfer 13 MiG-29A/AS/UBS fighters and combat trainers to Ukraine, including four flown there in March 2023, six non-operational but restorable aircraft, and three incomplete airframes with engines removed.
The Ministry of Defence in Bratislava has not disclosed details of the Request for Information or the Request for Proposal submitted to the US administration under the Foreign Military Sales procedure. Unofficially, such documents are understood to have been sent to Washington, covering between four and eight aircraft, and if Deputy Prime Minister Kaliňák’s statement is taken as fact, the US Department of State would have had to approve the sale before Congressional acceptance.
No approval for the sale of a further batch of F-16 Block 70 aircraft to Bratislava has been published on the website of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. However, it cannot be ruled out that the parties decided to exempt the procedure from public disclosure.
On 12 December 2018, Slovakia signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for 14 F-16 Block 70 multirole fighters, including 12 single-seat and two two-seat aircraft, together with weapons and equipment packages, technical support and training, for a net value of USD 1,872,568,591. The package included Sniper XR targeting pods, AIM-9X Sidewinder and AIM-120C7 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, and GBU-12 Paveway II, GBU-38 JDAM, GBU-49 Enhanced Paveway II and GBU-54 LJDAM guided bombs.
Under the original schedule, deliveries were to take place between 2022 and 2023, but delays in launching the F-16 production line in Greenville and the global COVID-19 pandemic prevented the timeline from being met. The first two Slovak F-16 Block 70 aircraft eventually landed at the 46th Wing of the Slovak Air Force at Kuchyňa-Malacky on 22 July 2024.
Ten aircraft are currently in Slovakia, including nine single-seat jets and one two-seat aircraft. In mid-December last year, Lockheed Martin confirmed that all aircraft ordered by Slovakia in December 2018, as well as eight aircraft from Bulgaria’s first order, had already been produced at its Greenville facility in South Carolina, with the remaining four Slovak aircraft expected to arrive this year.
In the middle of this year, once a sufficient number of pilots obtain Mission Ready or Combat Ready status, the 1st Tactical Squadron of the 46th Wing at Kuchyňa-Malacky is expected to assume duties within NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence System. Since 1 September 2022 these tasks have been carried out by Polish F-16s and Czech Gripens, joined by Hungarian Gripens from 1 July 2023.
