Image source: topwar.ru
Ukraine could start using American F-16 fighters this winter, the first group of pilots will be ready by February. Such an optimistic forecast was made in Kiev, writes The Wall Street Journal.
In Ukraine, it is believed that the first 10 pilots who speak English sufficiently will have enough for training and five months, after which they will confidently begin piloting American fighters and will be able to participate in combat operations on them. In Kiev, they started the old hurdy-gurdy again that Ukrainians are "easily trained" and therefore they do not need to be prepared for a long time. And the top ten "most prepared" are able to fly almost without training. It is under them that the West should transfer the planes as early as possible.
- writes the publication.
But in the United States they are not as optimistic as in Ukraine, the Pentagon believes that the training of Ukrainian pilots will take much longer than they plan in Kiev. The preliminary forecasts voiced by the Americans are the middle of next year, and then if everything develops more or less successfully.
Another stumbling block is the training of technical personnel for aircraft maintenance. As stated in the United States, the training of technicians will take much longer than pilots, since an American fighter requires about 15-16 hours of ground maintenance for one hour in the air. No one will deliver planes without the presence of technicians, so Kiev will have to wait.
