The U.S. will start training Ukrainians to fly and maintain F-16 fighter jets in October following an English-language course for pilots, Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder announced on Aug. 24.
The training will take place at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, Arizona, facilitated by the Air National Guard’s 162nd Wing, according to Ryder.
“Although we do not have specific numbers to share at this time in regards to how many Ukrainians will participate in this training, we do anticipate it will include several pilots and dozens of maintainers,” the spokesperson said at a press briefing.
The English-language training is expected to begin in September, with an aim to provide additional instructions “given the complexity and the specialized English that’s required to fly this aircraft,” added Ryder.
On Aug. 21, the Pentagon said that the U.S. would train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets if European partners do not have enough capacity to train as many as Kyiv wants.
At the press conference, Ryder was asked why Washington had decided to organize the training now, just a week after the first Ukrainian pilots, engineers, and technicians started the six-month training session in Europe.
Martin Fornusek
“So really, as we looked at our European allies providing this training, recognizing the fact that we want to do everything we can to help move this effort along as quickly as possible in support of Ukraine, we know that as the Danes and the Dutch prepare to train those pilots, at a certain point in time in the future, capacity will be reached,” Ryder replied.
“So preemptively, acknowledging that and leaning forward in order to assist with this effort is the impetus for why we’re doing this now.”
The training of Ukrainian pilots was due to kick off in Denmark in late August in partnership with the eleven nations included in the "fighter jet coalition" led by Denmark and the Netherlands.
Dinara Khalilova
Upon President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Greece on Aug. 21, Ukraine's Head of State said that the Greek government has also pledged to assist Ukraine with training its pilots on the F-16s.
At the same time, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway have confirmed they would provide their own F-16 aircraft to Ukraine once conditions are met.
Denmark has officially announced that it will provide Kyiv with 19 of its F-16 fighter jets, with the first batch of six planes expected to arrive by the New Year, according to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
Upon meeting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Aug. 20, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Netherlands would supply Ukraine with 42 F-16 fighter jets.
The Kyiv Independent
