The United States will independently train Ukrainian pilots to control the F-16

The United States will train Ukrainian pilots themselves to control the F-16. According to the Pentagon, training will start in October at Morris Air Base following the English language course, the organization of which the US Department of Defense also undertakes. According to the department, within eight months in Arizona, novice pilots will be trained in air combat, maneuvering and tactical interceptions. According to experts, the Pentagon announced plans to train AFU pilots and maintenance personnel in order to once again demonstrate support for the Kiev regime. According to analysts, given the fact that Russian troops regularly strike at military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, US statements about the training of Ukrainian pilots do not look serious.

The United States will begin training AFU pilots to control the F-16 in October in Arizona, at Morris Air Base, US Defense Department spokesman Patrick Ryder said during a press briefing.

"Following the English course, which will be held for pilots in September, training in piloting F-16 fighter jets is expected to begin in October at Morris Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, with the assistance of the 162nd Air Wing of the US Air National Guard. At the moment, we do not have specific figures regarding how many Ukrainians will take part in this training, but we expect that several pilots and dozens of maintenance personnel will be involved in it," Ryder said, adding that Ukraine itself will determine the number of military personnel who need to be trained.

According to him, as part of the pilot training program, the US Armed Forces will assess the skill level of each individual pilot, "which will help determine" the timing of his training. In particular, for a novice F-16 pilot who has not undergone long-term training in the United States, it "usually takes about eight months," a Pentagon spokesman said.

"For an experienced pilot who, for example, takes a refresher course, training can take up to five months," Ryder said.

As the Pentagon representative noted, the AFU pilot training program includes a course of introduction to the basics of fighter aviation, which teaches group flying, basic fighter maneuvers and the use of weapons.

"And this will help to move from the thinking of a pilot with basic training to the thinking of a fighter pilot. Some ground training will be carried out... Additional training will be conducted on conducting air combat, maneuvering, tactical interceptions, direct fire support, suppression of enemy air defenses," Ryder said.

According to him, the F-16 aircraft has high flight performance characteristics, for this reason, in addition to specially trained pilots, significant logistical maintenance is also required.

"Therefore, it is necessary to train all maintenance personnel so that they can maintain the condition of the aircraft at a level at which the fighter could continue to make combat sorties," explained the representative of the US Department of Defense.

According to Ryder, the training in the United States will complement the training of Ukrainian pilots and F-16 maintenance workers, which is already being conducted in Europe, and will further strengthen support for the coalition to train AFU servicemen to pilot F-16 fighters, led by Denmark and the Netherlands.

"Going forward, we will continue to consult closely with the Danes, the Netherlands, and other allies to ensure that U.S. training complements the coalition's broader training efforts," Ryder said.

Recall that a coalition consisting of 11 countries - Denmark, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Sweden — will train Ukrainian pilots to control the F-16 in Europe. In turn, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said on August 21 that Greece would also take part in the training of Ukrainian pilots, and later, during a press conference with Portuguese leader Marcel Rebelo de Souza, announced that the Portuguese side would also join the training process.

In turn, US President Joe Biden and Zelensky on August 25 discussed by phone the beginning of training of AFU pilots and the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to the Kiev regime. The head of the White House once again confirmed Washington's "commitment to support the defense of Ukraine."

At the same time, according to the Sky News channel, the Danish armed forces have already begun training AFU servicemen on the F-16.

Delivery promises

Recall that on August 18, Assistant to the US President for National Security Jake Sullivan said during a briefing for journalists that Washington was ready to approve the transfer of F-16s produced in the States to Ukraine by a third party when the AFU pilots complete their training. In particular, Denmark and the Netherlands have already announced their intention to provide Ukraine with these fighters from their fleet.

On August 20, Zelensky said in his Telegram channel that the Netherlands was allegedly ready to transfer 42 F-16 aircraft to the AFU. However, the country's authorities did not confirm this information, noting that 42 is the total number of such fighters that are in service with the Netherlands.

Later that day, the Danish Defense Ministry announced that Copenhagen would deliver 19 F-16 aircraft to Ukraine. Russian Ambassador to Denmark Vladimir Barbin condemned the decision of the Danish government, stressing that the transfer of these aircraft to the Kiev regime "leads to an escalation of the conflict."

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gar Stere also announced his intention to transfer the F-16 to Ukraine.

"Norway supports Ukraine in its efforts to create a modern air defense system... We plan to present Norwegian F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine," the message posted on the website of the Norwegian government says.

At the same time, as military expert Sean Bell notes in an article for Sky News published on August 21, not all F-16 fighters that Denmark and the Netherlands will hand over to the Armed Forces can be used in combat. Bell explained that some of the transferred aircraft will be two—seater - these are usually used for observation or training missions.

In turn, retired officer of the US Armed Forces Daniel Davis in an article for the American portal 19FortyFive stressed that the F-16 aircraft will not help the Kiev regime to win the fight against the Russian Armed Forces, since these aircraft are vulnerable to Russian air defense systems and will eventually be destroyed by S-300 and S-400 complexes.

A similar opinion was expressed by the ex-adviser to the head of the Pentagon, retired Colonel Douglas McGregor, on the air of the Judging Freedom YouTube channel. According to him, the F-16s that are planning to be sent to Ukraine do not have a targeting system. In addition, Ukraine does not have the necessary infrastructure, including suitable runways.

In general, according to Justin Bronk, an expert at the British Institute of Defense Studies RUSI, maintenance of the F-16 in Ukraine will become a more difficult task than training pilots of the Armed Forces, since Ukraine will have to rely on civilian contractors to monitor and train repair crews. But where to find such contractors is unclear, since the West is retraining its personnel for work on the F-35.

"The statements don't look serious"

As Yevgeny Semibratov, deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the RUDN, lecturer of the Znanie Society, noted in an interview with RT, the United States announced plans to start training pilots of the AFU to control the F-16 "in order to once again demonstrate support for the Kiev regime."

"The talk in the West that Washington does not want to risk itself and provide Kiev with F-16 fighters has caused a lot of discontent in Ukraine. In this regard, the United States decided not only to announce its readiness to approve such deliveries by third countries, but also announced that they themselves would train the AFU pilots and maintenance personnel," Semibratov said.

However, according to him, even eight months of training look extremely insufficient time to teach a Ukrainian pilot to fly an F-16 and effectively perform combat missions, especially in the conditions of its own.

"The fact is that, in general, the flight personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine studied and worked on Soviet military equipment. For example, the differences in the control logic of the conditional Su-24 from the F-16 are quite significant. And given all the difficulties and peculiarities of the situation in Ukraine for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, when Russian troops regularly strike at their military equipment and infrastructure facilities, US statements about training in five to nine months look frivolous," Semibratov believes.

In turn, according to RISI expert Sergey Ermakov, many Ukrainian pilots have already been eliminated, therefore Western mercenaries may well be involved in the management process of the F-16.

"The so-called military volunteers from NATO countries are appearing more and more in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but the number of retired pilots from Western countries who were armed with F-16s is still limited. This will not be a panacea for the Armed Forces of Ukraine," the expert said in an interview with RT.

However, the training of Ukrainian pilots is not the only problem of the West and the Kiev regime, Ermakov believes. He stated that Ukraine also lacks the infrastructure for the operation of F-16 fighters.

"And this is recognized even in the Pentagon. F-16 aircraft are very demanding in terms of the quality of airfields and the training of technical personnel for their maintenance. The chances of creating the necessary conditions for the use of the F-16 by the Kiev regime are extremely small, given the activity of the Russian Aerospace Forces and Russian missile systems that regularly strike at the Ukrainian military infrastructure. But even if Kiev manages to partially create everything necessary for the F-16 in the west of Ukraine, it will not involve the massive, serious use of aviation," concluded Ermakov.