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Ukrainian Pilots are now in the U.S. training on F-16s [1]

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Date: 2023-10-25  

From Air & Space Forces Magazine:

Chris Gordon reports on the story:

The U.S. has begun training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s, the U.S. Air Force announced Oct. 25. A “small number” of Ukrainian pilots began training with the 162nd Wing of the Arizona Air National Guard earlier this week in “F-16 fundamentals,” according to a service spokesperson. “The training curriculum will align with the foundational knowledge and skills of each pilot and is expected to last several months,” a U.S. Air Force spokesperson said in a statement provided to Air & Space Forces Magazine. The 162nd Wing trains pilots at Morris Air National Guard Base, which is located at Tucson International Airport. It is the only unit of the U.S. Air Force tasked with training foreign pilots on F-16s, which is part of its day-to-day mission. The wing has trained over two dozen countries in how to operate the F-16.

A standard course is normally 6 months, though given the particular needs of Ukraine, it’s likely their course of instruction will be focused on what they need to fly in that conflict. It’s not expected that any of them will be flying F-16s in Ukraine before 2024.

Gen. James B. Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, said in an interview in September that “up to about 10 pilots” would be trained by the U.S. The Pentagon has said the U.S. will also train “dozens” of maintainers, though the U.S. has not revealed whether that training has begun.

There are more details at the link about the program. It’s not the only training program going. Politico reported back on July 11, 2023 that other NATO countries will also be training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16.

VILNIUS — Eleven NATO countries pledged on Tuesday to train Ukrainian pilots to fly American F-16 fighter jets from August, in a major step toward the possible future provision of the advanced military aircraft to Kyiv. The pilots first will be trained in Denmark until a center is set up in Romania. The first batch of pilots should complete their training by the beginning of next year, according to Denmark and the Netherlands, which lead the mission. Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the U.K. are also part of the program.

Given the number of anti-air systems in the region, it’s unlikely the F-16s will be engaging in air to air combat, direct bombing attacks, or strikes into Russian airspace. Much will depend on the weapons they will be armed with, and their ability to strike at a distance. Nonetheless, this will introduce a new element into the conflict — assuming Trump and Republicans don’t block it or pull the U.S. out of NATO.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/10/25/2201551/-Ukrainian-Pilots-are-now-in-the-U-S-training-on-F-16s

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