February 8, 2024 (by Lieven Dewitte) - The Netherlands ends negotiations to sell six F-16 fighter planes to Draken International. Both parties have come to the conclusion that sale and delivery of these F-16s is not going to happen anytime soon.
The Netherlands had made agreements with the international firm to sell 12 F-16s in 2021. Draken would use these aircraft to expand its own fleet with fourth-generation aircraft. With these, the company wanted to compete for contracts and tenders.

However, this sale did not go through, after which the Netherlands offered Draken the opportunity to still buy 6 F-16s in the future. This would happen under conditions yet to be determined. This is no longer a problem as the talks with Draken have come to a conclusion.

The 6 aircraft will now be added to the 18 F-16s prepared for delivery to Ukraine. The remaining 18 aircraft are destined for a Romanian F-16 training facility..

For many years, the F-16 was the mainstay of the Royal Air Force's strike force. This role has now been taken over by the F-35. All F-16s are being sold off.