L-39 Skyfox for Ukraine: Czechia Agrees 4 Jets, Eyes 12 More

The Czech Republic has agreed to supply Ukraine with four L-39NG Skyfox jets and is negotiating the transfer of a further 12, a package that would give the Ukrainian Air Force 16 of the newest light combat aircraft built in Central Europe. Czech Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček told reporters in Kiev on November 11 that the first four aircraft had already been confirmed. He said he had discussed the remaining 12 with Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky and had “a very good feeling” about the meeting, although no price, financing arrangement or delivery schedule has been disclosed. The deal highlights how drone warfare has turned a jet built to train fighter pilots into a sought-after air defence asset for Kiev.

The Skyfox follows Ukraine’s failed attempt to acquire four L-159 ALCA light combat aircraft from Czech stocks, which the government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš rejected on the grounds that the Czech Armed Forces still needed them. Chief of the General Staff Miroslav Hlaváč said in October that the L-159 question was closed, while pointing to the L-39NG as the alternative. Manufacturer Aero Vodochody builds about 12 Skyfox jets a year and has said it can raise output to 18. Its order book was reported in September to be full until the second quarter of 2027, which makes new aircraft for Ukraine unlikely before mid-2027 unless an existing customer gives up its production slots.

The L-39NG is a thoroughly redesigned successor to the Soviet era L-39 Albatros, still Ukraine’s main jet trainer, with a Williams International FJ44-4M turbofan in place of the old Ivchenko AI-25TL engine, a glass cockpit and five hardpoints. Aero has sold more than 40 of the jets, with the Czech Air Force, Hungary and Vietnam among its customers. Ukraine is expected to receive the Drone Hunter variant still under development, which pairs an electro-optical targeting system with launchers for 70 millimetre laser guided rockets that Aero is integrating with Thales Belgium. The variant has not been used operationally, and its performance against fast targets has yet to be confirmed by trials.

The need has grown as Russia fields jet powered drones that are far harder to catch than the propeller driven Geran-2. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on November 13 that its 1027th Anti-Aircraft Missile and Artillery Regiment had shot down a Geran-5 over Kiev region with a Swedish RBS-70 portable missile system for the first time, with the crew commander stating that the drone flies at more than 500 kilometres per hour. Russian strikes have meanwhile continued to hit Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, while Moscow claimed to have downed 1,198 Ukrainian drones on November 13 alone.

The Czech jets are set to arrive alongside Ukraine’s first Swedish fighters, with President Volodymyr Zelensky having said in Copenhagen on November 10 that the first JAS 39 Gripen aircraft should reach Ukraine in January or February 2027. Sweden has committed 16 Gripen C/D fighters from its own fleet as an interim step, while a letter of intent signed in October 2025 outlined a far larger purchase of between 100 and 150 new Gripen E fighters. The Gripen C/D will become the third Western fighter type in Ukrainian service after the F-16 and the French Mirage 2000, both of which have been used extensively against Russian drones and cruise missiles.