Ukrainian Pilots Are In US To Determine How Long F-16 Training Will Take

The pilots's skills are being assessed to determine how long actual training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16s might take. JL 

Courtney Kube and Carol Lee report in NBC:

Two Ukrainian pilots are in the U.S. undergoing an assessment to determine how long it could take to train them to fly attack aircraft, including F-16 fighter jets. The Ukrainians’ skills are being evaluated on simulators at a U.S. military base in Tucson, Arizona and they may soon be joined by more of their fellow pilots. The effort has twin goals: to improve the pilots’ skills and to evaluate how long a proper training program could take. Training could be shortened to six to nine months, depending on the pilots previous training and knowledge of fighter aircraft. The assessment is described it as a “familiarization event.”

Two Ukrainian pilots are in the U.S. undergoing an assessment to determine how long it could take to train them to fly attack aircraft, including F-16 fighter jets, according to two congressional officials and a senior U.S. official.

The Ukrainians’ skills are being evaluated on simulators at a U.S. military base in Tucson, Arizona, the officials said, and they may soon be joined by more of their fellow pilots. 

U.S. authorities have approved bringing up to 10 more Ukrainian pilots to the U.S. for further assessment as early as this month, the officials said.

Their arrival marks the first time Ukrainian pilots have traveled to the U.S. to have their skills evaluated by American military trainers. Officials said the effort has twin goals: to improve the pilots’ skills and to evaluate how long a proper training program could take.

“The program is about assessing their abilities as pilots so we can better advise them on how to use capabilities they have and we have given them,” an administration official said. 

Two administration officials stressed that it wasn’t a training program and said that the Ukrainians would not be flying any aircraft during their time here.  

A F-16 Fighting Falcon flies during a NATO air shielding exercise in Lask, Poland on Oct. 12, 2022.Omar Marques / Getty Images file

These officials said the pilots would be using a simulator that can mimic flying various types of aircraft, and they emphasized that there had been no updates on the U.S. decision to provide F-16s to Ukraine beyond what the Pentagon’s top policy official said to Congress last week. 

The official, Colin Kahl, told the House Armed Services Committee that the U.S. had not made the decision to provide F-16s and neither had U.S. allies and partners.  

He also said the U.S. had “not started training on F-16s” and that the delivery time line for F-16s is “essentially the same” as the training time line, about 18 months.  

“So you don’t actually save yourself time by starting the training early in our assessment,” said Kahl, who is the under secretary of defense for policy. “And since we haven’t made the decision to provide F-16s and neither have our allies and partners, it doesn’t make sense to start to train them on a system they may never get.” 

Other U.S. defense officials have said the training could be shortened to six to nine months, depending on the pilots previous training and knowledge of fighter aircraft.  

Ukrainian officials have told the U.S. and other allies that they had fewer than 20 pilots ready to travel to the U.S. to train on F-16s but haf about 30 who could be trained soon, according to American and Western officials.  

Asked about the assessment of two Ukrainian pilots, a defense official described it as “familiarization event.”  

“It is a routine activity as part of our military-to-military dialogue with Ukraine,” the official said.

“The ‘familiarization event’ is essentially a discussion between the Air Force personnel and an observation of how the U.S. Air Force operates. This event allows us to better help Ukrainian pilots become more effective pilots and better advise them on how to develop their own capabilities.” 

The defense official added that there were no immediate plans to increase the number of pilots beyond the two currently in Tucson but said “we’re not closing the door on future opportunities.”