Lockheed Martin is facing troubles with the Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) for its F-35 aircraft, forcing the company to keep the fighters to itself until software issues are resolved. This resulted in supplies being postponed to April, then June 2024.
Denmark in particular issued a notice that the arrival of the second batch of F-35 for the country's Air Force planned for spring 2024 will instead happen later in autumn.
Read more: The First Group of Ukrainian Pilots, Engineers Has Left for F-16 Training, Next Ones in Turn
Danish Minister of Defense Troels Lund Poulsen informed the defense procurement officials on the matter:
"Of course, this annoys me a lot, because the [Danish] Armed Forces need these advanced aircraft to solve tasks nationally and internationally," he said, adding that he would discuss the available solutions to the problem with the U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
At the same time, the Danish ministry's statement also mentions an important detail. The assessment is that Denmark's Armed Forces would still be able to "handle the training of Ukrainian pilots and donation of aircraft to Ukraine. Our deterrence capability will not be affected, nor will the delay affect our commitments to NATO in a conflict situation."
As a reminder, previously, Denmark committed to providing F-16 fighters to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Having inspected the aircraft that is being prepared for the transfer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that 19 aircraft will be supplied and detailed the deadlines for the delivery: six planes by the end of 2023, six more in 2024, and seven by 2025.
Read more: The F-16 Delivery Rate to Ukraine Announced as Well As Whether the Country Will Have Swedish Gripen
