Lockheed Martin offers Ukraine its own version of the F-16

Lockheed Martin is promoting the idea of a special version of the F-16 fighter built around Ukraine’s needs, with longer range, a new AESA radar and stronger air defense capabilities, sources at the company told The Defence Blog.

The idea is being floated as the U.S. defense giant expands its work with Kyiv, and it surfaced days after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met a Lockheed Martin team in Kyiv on Oct. 19 to discuss F-16 support and pilot training, the President’s Office said.

According to the sources, one option under consideration is a new F-16 variant with extended range and an AESA radar that would let pilots detect low-flying drones and cruise missiles earlier and faster than the radars on Ukraine’s current jets allow. The company is also looking at deeper integration of European weapons on the aircraft, including guided bombs and cruise missiles, which would give Ukraine more options than the mix of Western munitions its F-16s carry today.

No concrete negotiations on a new version are underway, the sources said, but the Ukrainian side has shown interest in an affordable, versatile fighter that its pilots have already mastered in combat. Lockheed Martin is counting on numerous joint projects with Ukraine, the sources added, and Zelenskyy said after the meeting that Kyiv wants the F-16 program to continue.

“It has been working from the first day the F-16 was used and still is today. Especially ahead of a difficult winter, during massive attacks with Shaheds, the F-16s destroy them. And we have a very good rate of destroying Shaheds. That is why we are very proud that we have this capability. Thank you very much. We are counting on the program continuing,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The F-16 has become the backbone of Ukraine’s air force since the first jets arrived in 2024, and the type now flies roughly 80 percent of all Ukrainian Air Force sorties, as we reported last year. One Ukrainian F-16 wing alone has been credited with downing more than 1,000 Russian Shahed-type drones and cruise missiles, and its vice commander told a U.S. audience that what Ukraine needed most was newer Block 70 jets and more missiles.

That request goes to the heart of the radar issue, since the F-16s that Ukraine received from European NATO members are older airframes upgraded under the Mid-Life Update program, which still rely on a mechanically scanned radar. Newer Block 70 aircraft use an AESA radar that can track more targets at longer range and is better at picking out small, low-flying objects such as drones and cruise missiles against the ground, which is the main threat Ukrainian pilots face during Russia’s mass overnight attacks.

At the Oct. 19 meeting, Zelenskyy also discussed work to let Ukraine service and repair its F-16s on its own territory, as well as larger deliveries of the anti-ballistic interceptors that Lockheed Martin builds for the Patriot air defense system, which the company is ramping up and part of which Kyiv hopes to buy. A Ukraine-specific F-16 would sit alongside the country’s other fighter plans, which include 16 Gripen E jets ordered from Sweden in June with deliveries from 2029 and a separate donation of Gripen C/D fighters, we reported at the time.

The sources did not say how much a dedicated Ukrainian variant would cost, how many aircraft could be involved, or which European weapons Lockheed Martin would prioritize for integration, and any such program would need approval from Washington before talks could move beyond the idea stage.