The U.S. Air Force’s 68th Electronic Warfare Squadron has partnered with Denmark and Norway to equip F-16 fighter jets, soon to be delivered to Ukraine, with critical electronic warfare capabilities. The effort follows the announcement by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding the transfer of F-16 aircraft from Denmark and the Netherlands to Ukraine.
The partnership with the two European nations allowed the unit to take advantage of available EW data and test and verify the requirements set by the Ukrainian military. The project’s success underscored the importance of international cooperation in modern warfare, particularly in achieving spectrum dominance.
The squadron deployed a specialized team to reprogram the aircraft’s EW subsystem, enabling the fleet to counter Russian threats. According to 68th officials, the EW upgrade required members of the 68th EWS to travel overseas to work directly with their coalition partners, developing and testing the reprogrammed systems in-country.
As Ukraine becomes an official foreign military sales case, the 68th EWS will continue to support the Ukrainian forces with ongoing reprogramming based on real-world combat data.
Since war broke out in 2022, the armed forces of Ukraine and Russia have relied significantly on the electromagnetic spectrum to achieve their objectives. “What we have seen in the Ukraine-Russia conflict is more EW than we have ever seen before,” said Col. Nicole Petrucci, commander of Space Delta 3.