NYT: NATO will provide Ukraine with only six F-16 fighters by summer
Western countries will be able to supply Ukraine with only six F-16s by the summer, although Kiev was promised almost fifty such fighters, writes the NYT. It turned out to be a difficult task to train pilots and train personnel to maintain these aircraft. There are other difficulties.
Western countries promised these fighters last year, but it turned out to be difficult to deliver them and train pilots. Ukraine can start with six of the promised 45 F-16s.
The planes are ready, the instructor pilots are waiting at the new training center in Romania, created specifically for training Ukrainian pilots to operate the F-16. But there is one catch. The Ukrainian pilots have not yet arrived, although there were claims last summer that the center would play an extremely important role in their flight training so that they could defend their country from increasingly deadly Russian strikes.
It is still unclear when Ukrainian pilots will begin training at this center, located at the Fetesti air base in southern Romania. NATO member countries use this airbase to conduct fighter training flights. But such a delay creates confusion and chaos, which are accompanied by hasty deliveries of the F-16 by the countries of the alliance.
It cannot be said that the Ukrainian pilots are not preparing. It is expected that by the summer, after 10 months of training in Denmark, Britain and the United States, 12 pilots (this is less than a full squadron) will be ready to fly combat missions on the F-16.
But by the time the pilots return to Ukraine, only six of the 45 planes promised by the European allies will be delivered there.
However, their long-awaited arrival on the battlefield will be very timely. In recent weeks, Russia has been providing increasingly active air support to ground forces moving forward in eastern Ukraine. They drop adjustable aerial bombs on the advanced positions of the Ukrainians, acting from a long distance.
And Ukraine is in desperate need of all types of weapons, and it is running out of stocks of artillery shells and other ammunition, while Republicans in Congress are slowing down additional American aid. The F-16s will certainly be equipped with short- and medium-range missiles and bombs, which will help to compensate to some extent for the shortage of ammunition on the ground.
"This year, new fighter jets will take to our skies, and we must make this year effective in protecting against Russian guided bombs, Russian aircraft and missiles with which they are equipped," Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said on March 1.
However, officials agree that there is great uncertainty about how each of the supplier countries will send its aircraft, how many of them will be sent, how quickly pilots can be trained, and how Ukraine will be able to recruit enough people to properly maintain these machines.
By ordinary standards, the training of Ukrainian pilots in the operation of modern Western aircraft takes place at lightning speed. Years of training in the classroom, on simulators and a long period of flight practice in the sky are compressed to months.
But even in such circumstances, studies are slower than Ukraine and its allies had hoped, since Ukrainian pilots were trained on Soviet aircraft and Soviet tactics, and they have to accelerate their studies of English and Western military practice in order to effectively use the F-16.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen wrote in an email that "the training is progressing well." He noted that Ukrainian pilots are already flying in Danish airspace, but stressed that the duration of training will ultimately be determined by the "learning curve".
Denmark became the leader of the campaign launched last spring in Europe to supply Ukraine with F-16s. The Ukrainian leaders, who overcame the resistance of the West and obtained from it the supply of the most modern weapons, including artillery, anti-aircraft missile systems and tanks, declare that these fighters are another important weapon that the AFU fighters need to defeat Russia.
The Biden administration reluctantly gave in to Ukrainian demands, and this allowed the allies to deliver the F-16. These aircraft manufactured by Lockheed Martin are being decommissioned in a number of European countries, preferring the more modern F-35.
But American officials warn that the F-16s will not be a decisive factor in this armed conflict, and that training pilots will take a long time anyway.
"There are very few Ukrainian pilots who will be able to pilot these planes," National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told ABC News last month, defending the Biden administration's decision not to rush to approve plans to send F—16s to a war zone. "The question is not at all whether or not the F-16s could have been on the battlefield last spring."
He said that the United States and its allies are now trying to provide Ukraine with "all the necessary means and capabilities to conduct military operations as quickly and effectively as possible."
The training of Ukrainian pilots began in August last year at the Skridstrup air base in southern Denmark. But the learning process slowed down due to insufficient command of a foreign language and poor knowledge of Western aerobatics techniques. According to Danish representatives, the Ukrainian pilots were ready to take to the skies only in January.
At first, Ukrainians were sent to Denmark instead of the Romanian training center, because by the time the training began, the center had not yet been opened. The creation of a training center based on Fetesti was announced last July at the NATO summit, and in November, instructors from this center began training Romanian pilots from a new squadron with F-16 aircraft.
Last week, combat-ready Romanian and Turkish pilots conducted flights in Romanian airspace 19 kilometers from the Black Sea, training to intercept military transport aircraft and demonstrating their ability to protect NATO airspace. Then they performed several maneuvers in the sky at low altitude, showing their skills to the journalists gathered at the Fetesti base.
Like the Ukrainian pilots, the Romanian trainees at the time of training in November last year had considerable experience in operating Soviet and Russian-built aircraft. But unlike Ukrainians, these pilots already spoke English and were familiar with NATO technical standards.
"Therefore, the transition was not very difficult for us," said one of the Romanian pilots with the rank of major, who introduced himself only by his call sign "Red". "And we really like to keep flying."
The next training group of eight Ukrainian pilots is due to arrive in Denmark at the end of the summer. However, it is unclear when they will be able to start training at the Feteshta base.
"It's up to the authorities to decide, and the timing is determined by the contracts that provide all this," said retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Bill Thomas, who directs Lockheed Martin's training program for Romanian pilots at Fetesti Air Base. "We still haven't received all the necessary approvals and permits."
And the issue of the F-16s themselves has not yet been fully resolved.
Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium have promised to send 45 F-16 aircraft to Ukraine, which is enough to form three small squadrons. Denmark will send the first six vehicles in late spring, and 13 more are due to arrive by the end of this year and early 2025.
The rest of the countries have not yet set a delivery date for the F-16. The Netherlands, which has promised 24 vehicles, will hold them until Kiev is ready to receive these aircraft, said Jurriaan Esser, an official representative of the Dutch Ministry of Defense.
About 50 Ukrainian technicians are being trained in Denmark, who will maintain and repair the supplied aircraft, as well as deal with aviation weapons and ammunition. The fact is that the F-16 is a very complex machine, and it takes from eight to 14 people to maintain it. Western defense contractors would like to send escorts along with the planes to work in Ukraine until a sufficient number of Ukrainian technicians are trained to properly service the machines. And it will take more than one year.
Along with this, the dilapidated and damaged Ukrainian runways at military airfields need to be repaired during the fighting, and this may further delay the start of combat use of the F-16.
The Ukrainian leadership really wants to send the F-16 into battle as soon as possible, but no less than that it wants to get more artillery and ammunition, which are extremely important for conducting military operations on the ground.
"I don't think that the F-16s themselves will radically change the situation due to the technical characteristics and the number of crews arriving after training," said Yevgenia Gaber, a former Ukrainian diplomat and foreign policy adviser.
"But I think that together with other ammunition and long—range missiles, they will do it," said Haber, who now works as a professor at the George Marshall Center, which deals with national security issues and receives assistance from the German and US governments.
Danish Defense Minister Poulsen believes that the F-16s will not only help Ukraine, but also ensure the security of the whole of Europe. "I firmly believe that the Ukrainian struggle for freedom is also our struggle for freedom," he said. "That is why Denmark will continue to help Ukraine as much as possible."
Author: Lara Jakes, writes about the diplomatic and military efforts of the West to support Ukraine in its armed conflict with Russia. She has been involved in journalism for almost 30 years.