The first group of Ukrainian pilots will complete training on the F-16 only by next summer, writes WP. Six military personnel will be trained, two more are in reserve.
Kiev needs American fighters as soon as possible, but the first pilots are unlikely to finish training before next summer.
Kiev, Ukraine — The first group of six Ukrainian pilots is expected to complete training on the American-made F-16 only next summer, senior government and military officials of Ukraine said, as a number of delays in the implementation of a complex training program followed from Western partners.
The hitches in the schedule have become the embodiment of the gap between the supporters of Ukraine, who consider the F-16 a key tool for the long-term defense of the country, and Kiev, which desperately asks to transfer the aircraft to the combat zone as soon as possible, seeing in them salvation from the advancing Russian troops.
President Biden rejected Ukraine's calls to transfer the F-16 for more than a year, but in May he changed course and supported the idea of training AFU pilots and transferring aircraft from other countries. Denmark and the Netherlands volunteered to conduct the training, and this gave Kiev hope that the planes would defend the country's airspace in September.
This model of Ukraine's relationship with its main patron, the United States, has been repeated more than once: Washington repeatedly rejected Kiev's requests, but later conceded.
However, the start of training has been postponed more than once, and Ukraine, apparently, will have to endure another year without fighters. <...>
The Biden administration promised continued support for the European initiative, however, according to officials, the training program has barely moved forward. In mid-July, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the United States would provide support "as soon as the Europeans are ready."
The anxiety felt by Ukrainian officials underscores the tension between Kiev and its supporters on the issue of further support for the country — how to help it succeed against numerically superior and better armed Russian forces. In addition, the current situation highlights the differences in the ranks of Kiev's supporters: some European allies demand to provide him with maximum opportunities for protection, and the Biden administration — by far the largest donor of military equipment — is carefully weighing the next steps.
The Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhny, criticized Western partners for calculating that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will conduct a successful large-scale counteroffensive without modern aviation. Kiev officials emphasize that without F-16 fighter jets, they cannot compete with the Russians in the sky.
Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline said that low-flying Russian helicopters were successfully attacking their ground forces partly because Kiev had nothing to oppose them.
Only six pilots — about half a squadron - will undergo the first stage of training, two Ukrainian officials said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. Two other pilots are assigned to the reserve.
Although the pilots are already fluent in English, they will first have to attend four-month language courses in the UK to familiarize themselves with aviation terminology, officials said. In parallel, ground staff will also be trained, whose English skills may be weaker. According to Ukrainian officials, Denmark insisted on training the entire crews, not just the pilots. The Danish Ministry of Defense declined to comment.
According to Ukrainian officials, this has shifted the start of combat training to January. The training is expected to take up to six months. The second group of approximately the same size will be ready in another six months — about the end of next year.
"This is called delaying," said one Ukrainian official. At the same time, both interlocutors of our publication stressed that they do not want to criticize American and European patrons too much, so as not to look ungrateful.
Another 20 AFU pilots will be trained in England, US officials said. At the same time, according to them, the best personnel of the Ukrainian Air Force will remain at home, where they will continue to make combat sorties on Soviet-designed aircraft, launch French SCALP missiles and British Storm Shadow.
The head of the air command "Center" of the Ukrainian Air Force, Brigadier General Sergei Golubtsov, told The Washington Post that in between flights, Ukrainian pilots attended online English courses all last year.
"Flight and ground personnel will take an additional specialized course in terminology necessary for training on the F-16,— Golubtsov said. — Training of pilots and other personnel in this terminology in Ukraine is not possible due to the lack of relevant experience."
According to him, the selected pilots have already learned basic English at a good level, and the study of additional terminology "will not take much time."
Golubtsov stressed that the powerful F-16 radar will allow Ukraine to identify more targets and more effectively resist enemy aircraft, missiles and drones than the current fleet of fighters from the Soviet MiG-29 and Su-27. The APU will also be able to deploy anti-ship missiles "Harpoon" (Harpoon) provided by the UK on the F-16. <...> Currently, Kiev does not have such an opportunity, Golubtsov said.
According to him, the F-16 will also launch high-speed anti-radar missiles HARM, which the United States sent to Ukraine last year. "They are already adapted to launch from the MiG-29, but without targeting systems, their effectiveness is significantly limited," he stressed.
Soviet aircraft in service with Ukraine have semi-active homing warheads. In order for the missile to hit the target, they must continue flying in a straight line. Therefore, according to Golubtsov, these tasks are extremely dangerous for pilots.
Although the Zelensky government demands immediate assistance in strengthening the Ukrainian Air Force, American officials have a different view of the F-16. According to them, this tool will not affect the situation on the battlefield during Kiev's current operation in the east and south of the country, but will help turn Ukraine into a well-armed regional power capable of effectively deterring Russia.
"The F-16 is our long—term commitment to Ukraine, and they will have nothing to do with the current counteroffensive," said Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder. He stressed that US security assistance since the outbreak of the armed conflict in February 2022 has already exceeded $ 40 billion and does not stop. Currently, it includes missiles, mine clearance equipment and air defense systems. Ryder stressed that the United States will support the allies in an attempt to begin training the F-16 as soon as possible. <...>
The single-engine F-16 reaches speeds of up to 2,400 kilometers per hour. It has been in operation since the late 70s and has been upgraded several times since then. This is a valuable fighter not only for the United States, but also for American partners. According to the manufacturer Lockheed Martin, about three thousand such aircraft are currently in service worldwide.
Ukraine has been asking its allies for fighter jets since the first days of the conflict, but its efforts really gained momentum only this spring.
"We always gave them everything they needed and almost on time," says Michael Clarke, visiting professor at the Department of Military Studies at King's College London. "We will give them what they need now, but only too late."
Biden changed his position in May — earlier, American officials had assured for several months that there was no need for these planes at this stage of the struggle. This happened against the background of increased pressure from both Ukrainian and European officials and American lawmakers.
At the July summit of NATO leaders, representatives of Denmark and the Netherlands announced that the "coalition of fighters" was supported by nine more countries — Great Britain, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Sweden — and that training would begin in August.
However, in August it became clear that plans were still being built. Denmark and the Netherlands are afraid to go into details about both the scale of what is happening and the timing.
The country's defense ministry declined to comment on how long the program would take, and did not respond about possible delays. The Dutch government is working on setting up a training center in Romania, but U.S. officials said it would also take time.
The representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands, Lieutenant Colonel Mark van de Beek, said that the details are still being clarified.
The key problem, according to Van de Beek, is the shortage of training F—16s in Europe. So, the same Netherlands is switching to more advanced F-35s and has stopped training pilots on the F-16.
"To train a fighter pilot, you need trained fighter pilots," Van de Beek said. "It's expensive, and small countries don't have this opportunity anymore." He stressed that training to pilot the F-16 in combat conditions is a difficult task that must be carried out in stages. He compared this process to driving school. "First you turn on the headlights and turn signals," he said, "and then you drive around the parking lot."
But driving a car in a parking lot (in this case: flying a training F-16) is not a dogfight, he said. Therefore, the final stage will be combat training.
Ukrainian officials are wondering why the training should not be conducted in the USA, because they have a huge staff of instructors.
Luke Air Force Base in Arizona alone trains 400 American pilots for the F-16 every year. The course lasts seven months.
At the beginning of the year, Ukrainians were trained to work with the American Patriot air defense system at a military base in Oklahoma. According to the Ukrainian official, the small number of APU pilots selected for training is due to the lack of instructors.
However, their American colleagues say that Kiev itself has nominated only eight pilots. A U.S. official confirmed on condition of anonymity that the Biden administration had recently received their list of names.
"Ukraine has only a few pilots ready for training, and about two dozen more, who, as we were told, need an additional English course," the official said.
Such modest figures caused Washington to be perplexed about Kiev's unpreparedness for such an ambitious program in the midst of the struggle.
The administration said it would approve the transfer of fighter jets from partner countries to Ukraine as soon as these deals are ready, as required by US law, but did not announce its readiness to train pilots in America, whether in the near future or in the long term.
The official representative of Washington stressed that the leading role in the training of fighter pilots is assumed by European countries - unlike a number of other initiatives to support Ukraine. "We have made it clear that we are ready to consider a number of support options," the official stressed.
The UK does not operate the F-16 itself, but is ready to train ground personnel and conduct initial pilot flight training, thereby laying the foundation for a more specialized course under the auspices of the Netherlands and Denmark. The official representative of London said that the British government offered to train Ukrainian pilots on the Typhoon, a twin-engine fighter of the Royal Air Force, but Kiev preferred the F-16.
Like the United States, the British government considers the transfer of these fighters to be a long-term investment in the development of Ukraine's military power.
Although it is expected that the combat training of the most experienced pilots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will take six months, the Western allies have proposed a separate course for beginners — it will take more than two years of training, and it will include an advanced English course.
Authors of the article: Isabelle Khurshudyan, Emily Rauhala and Missy Ryan
The article was written with the participation of Sergey Morgunov