Ukraine will not have enough pilots for all the F-16s to be delivered, so it is pressing the US and allies for additional training

Ukrainian officials are trying to work with the United States and other countries to increase training for F-16 pilots. Current training does not produce enough pilots to staff the F-16s that will soon be delivered to Ukraine.

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Ukraine has 30 more pilots who should have started training in the US immediately. However, the Biden administration has informed Kyiv that they do not have enough space at their Arizona-based base to accept more than 12 trainee pilots at a time. Two other countries that are providing F-16s and training to Ukrainian fighters, Denmark and Romania, also face a similar problem.

The Ukrainian government began pushing for the fighter jets within months of Russia's full-scale invasion, but was repeatedly rebuffed by the White House. When some countries eventually agreed to give the F-16s, logistical and training problems arose.

Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium plan to send more than 60 American-made F-16s to Kyiv this summer. The Ukrainians argue that the ability to fly more F-16s will help Kyiv push Russian forces back from the front lines in places like Kharkiv, where Moscow has advanced in recent weeks. However, the US has said it does not expect the jets to be a game-changer on the battlefield.

However, Ukraine does not have enough trained pilots to fly all of the transferred aircraft. Politico states that in a series of meetings and calls over the past few weeks, Ukraine has officially asked the US to train additional pilots at the Arizona base. In addition, some US officials pressured the Biden administration to approve additional training.

But the United States told the Ukrainian military that, in addition to the limited space, other countries were waiting to train F-16s at the base, and that they could not violate their commitments to those countries.

Currently, 12 Ukrainian pilots are training in Arizona. Another eight Ukrainian pilots are being trained in Denmark. At the same time, Lockheed Martin, which produces the F-16, is also preparing to train pilots at a base in Romania, but this programme is expensive and will have a limited number of places.

It is expected that by the end of this year, 20 Ukrainian F-16 pilots will have graduated - half of the 40 needed to operate a full squadron of 20 fighters. Eight new pilots are due to start training in Romania, and another eight will soon arrive in Tucson. Denmark will no longer accept additional pilots.

Source: Politico