One of Ukraine's First F-16s Is a Veteran of Two Previous Wars
In Danish service, serial 80-3596 fought over Afghanistan and Libya
We’ve identified just two active Ukrainian air force Lockheed Martin F-16s out of 85 or so Ukraine is set to receive from Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway and Belgium. One with the serial 80-3596; another with the 80-3599.
Both are ex-Danish, single-seat F-16A Mid-Life Update models with recent upgrades including pylon-mounted radar-jammers and countermeasures. Serial 3596 has had a particularly interesting career in the 44 years since Lockheed built the jet.
According to F-16.net, 3596 entered service with the Danish air force as an F-16A Block 15 in May 1982. It flew with three different Danish squadrons—numbers 727, 723 and 726—before undergoing modification to the new MLU standard sometime before 1999.
The MLU update improved the jet’s avionics, sensors and weapons—producing an F-16A that was, in essence, equivalent to a contemporary U.S. Air Force F-16C.
In 2002, serial 3596 added a fourth squadron to its rotation, number 730. That year, it deployed to Afghanistan to support NATO troops under the auspices of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Nine years later, the same jet took part in its second shooting war: Operation Odyssey Dawn, the NATO intervention in Libya. Flying from Sigonella in Sicily, serial 3596 helped to enforce the no-fly zone over the North African country.
Two years later in 2013, the F-16 encountered the modern Russian air force apparently for the first time when it staged from the Baltic States for NATO air-policing missions. These missions often involve close interceptions of Russian warplanes flying in international air space along NATO borders.
The air-policing deployment may have been 3596’s last major operation before its retirement from Danish service probably some time before 2023. The jet was then 43 years old, and had been flying for the Danes for 41 years.
Overhauled and repainted in Ukrainian colors, 3596 is now fighting its third war—and its first against Russia.
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