According to the channel, the Pentagon will test pilots on simulators at a military base in ArizonaNEW YORK, March 5.
/tass/. Two pilots arrived in the United States from Ukraine so that the US military could assess their skills for possible training in working with samples of Western strike aircraft, including F-16 fighters, NBC reported on Saturday.
According to him, the Pentagon will test Ukrainian pilots on simulators at a military base in Arizona. It is noted that eight more pilots will arrive in the United States in March. This step is aimed at getting an idea of how much time in the future will be required for training, as well as improving their skills.
"This program is designed to assess their capabilities so that we can advise them on how they can better use their funds and those that we have provided them," NBC quoted a representative of the American administration as saying.
This week, US Undersecretary of Defense for Political Affairs Colin Kohl said at a hearing in the Armed Services Committee of the House of Representatives that the United States does not consider the supply of American F-16 fighter jets to Kiev a priority. As the Pentagon representative assured, the issue of supplying fighters to Kiev was "carefully studied" by specialists. According to him, it would take "three to six years" to transfer the new F-16s to Ukraine, since they still need to be produced, and the transfer of older equipment would require "18 to 24 months."
Kohl noted that the supply of even a part of the new aircraft would cost the United States from 10 billion to 11 billion dollars, and the supply of older equipment would cost from $ 2 billion to $ 3 billion. Therefore, the Americans make a choice in favor of the equipment that can be delivered to the front faster, including air defense and armored vehicles.
