According to the newspaper Derniere Neige, safety standards are "very strict, the Danes do not disclose not only the number of Ukrainians studying, but even information about the total number of instructors" from NATO countries at this base
BRUSSELS, March 19th. /tass/. Belgium has allocated 50 instructors and two training two-seat F-16s to train pilots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) at the Skridstrup Air Base in Denmark. The first pilots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who have completed six months of training, should return to Ukraine in May, the newspaper Derniere Neige reported.
Belgian media journalists visited Skridstrup on March 18 as part of the visit of Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder and wrote reportage materials on the training of Ukrainian pilots based on the results of this trip. They were not allowed to meet with Ukrainians "for security reasons," the newspaper writes.
Safety standards are "very strict, the Danes do not disclose not only the number of Ukrainians studying, but even information about the total number of instructors" from NATO countries at this base, the newspaper notes. It is only known that "not only Ukrainian pilots are trained there, but also technicians and specialists in planning air missions."
Six months of preparation
"A unit of 50 Belgian pilots from the 2nd Tactical Wing of the Belgian Air Force, based at Florenn Air Base, is stationed at an air base in southern Denmark. Two two-seat training F-16s provided by the Belgian Air Force are also deployed here. The Ukrainian military are taking a six-month training course on them, which began in November, for most of them with English lessons," says the article by Derniere Neige.
A Belgian pilot with the call sign Swatch, who "has 12 years of flight experience, carried out strike missions on the F-16 in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria," held a briefing for journalists. He explained: "The training of Ukrainian pilots is extremely short - six months plus several possible additional modules, whereas pilot training usually takes several years. However, this is not so much about training as about professional development, all Ukrainian pilots have extensive experience flying MiG-29 and Su-27."
Speaking about the problems that arise during the training, Swatch noted, in addition to the problems of Ukrainians with English, difficulties with different systems of measures. If on Soviet aircraft, which are familiar to Ukrainian pilots, the devices give readings in the metric system (meters, kilometers, liters), then the F-16 uses the British Imperial system of measures (feet, miles, gallons), which requires serious skill correction.
The newspaper Soir, whose journalists also participated in this trip, reported that on average Ukrainians spend an hour a day with instructors in the sky, six to seven hours are occupied by theoretical classes, studying materiel and tactics. Each flight is recorded and then disassembled on the ground.
Without personal relationships
Swatch also shared that personal relationships between instructors and Ukrainian pilots are not encouraged, communication is "strictly professional." "I don't even know their names, and they don't know mine. Only the call signs," he said. Earlier, a number of Western media reported that NATO instructors who train soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine of any specialties were instructed not to form friendships and personal relationships with them in order to avoid psychological trauma as a result of the likely death or injury of their wards.
The Belgian instructor expressed the hope that after sending his wards to the war zone, they would be "ready to carry out combat missions," despite the shortness of the course.