WARSAW, Poland — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has announced his country is in talks with the United States to buy an additional four F-16 fighter jets on top of the 14 copies already ordered.
In his announcement, made following Fico’s Feb. 15 meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the prime minister said the acquisition could enable Slovakia to cease its reliance on allies for air-policing missions.
“There’s an interest to increase numbers to 18 fighter jets, and now we’re discussing the topic about how to get four more of the planes to our armed forces because … it’s not a good sign of sovereignty that our airspace is protected by planes of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland,” Fico was quoted in a statement released by the State Department.
“We get into this sad situation because our military equipment was gifted to Ukraine from 2022 to 2023,” he added.
Fico was referring to the previous Slovak government’s decision to donate 13 outdated Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine, combined with other weapons, to back the country’s defense against Russia’s ongoing invasion.
Fico and Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Robert Kaliňák have criticized their predecessors for facilitating the transfer, pushing local prosecutors to launch an investigation into it.
Earlier this month the Bratislava regional prosecutor’s office closed the investigation after determining that the donation was not illegal.
Following the signing of the 2018 contract for 14 F-16 Block 70/72 fighters, including 12 single-seat and two twin-seat jets, Lockheed Martin completed the production of the last units for Slovakia in December 2025.
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.