CNN: Despite previous statements, US announces program to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16
This year, the United States will conduct training for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, Pentagon spokesman Briggs said. Gen. Patrick Ryder on Thursday, CNN reports.
Earlier, the TV channel reported that the United States would soon announce the exercise.
“After pilot training in English in September, F-16 pilot training is expected to begin in October at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, Arizona, with the assistance of the 162nd National Guard Wing,” Ryder said at the briefing.
“While we do not have specific numbers on how many Ukrainians will participate in this training, we expect several pilots and dozens of attendants to attend.”
Training in English is critical for pilots learning to fly the fourth generation of American jets, as all manuals and instruments are in English.
Ryder said the language lessons will take place at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, and then move to an F-16 training course in Arizona.
Ryder said that the US training would complement pilot and maintenance training already underway in Europe, and that the Pentagon would “remain in close consultation” with Denmark and the Netherlands, which lead a coalition of allies training Ukrainians in modern aircraft.
Ukraine has put forward a list of about 32 pilots who are ready to start fighter jet training, a U.S. official tells CNN, but most of them do not yet speak English well enough.
The pilots, along with some personnel who will be trained to maintain the aircraft, could arrive in the United States as early as next month, one official said.
It is not yet clear how long it will take to train pilots who previously flew Soviet MiG and Sukhoi fighters to fly more modern Western aircraft.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that Ukrainian pilots and technicians have already begun training on the aircraft. Reznikov noted that the “minimum period” of study is six months, but the teachers will decide how long the course will last.
The Ukrainian Air Force spokesman said that the F-16s could “change the course of events” and allow Kyiv to achieve “air superiority in the occupied territories.”
Earlier, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said that the United States is ready to participate in training Ukrainian pilots if there are more than the number of pilots that can be trained by European partners.
