According to Le Monde, France has undertaken the task of training 26 Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets. The project, which is being carried out at an air base hangar in southwestern France, has been ongoing for several months and is part of a broader military-technical cooperation between the two countries.
“There are no F-16s, the fighters they are supposed to fly in Ukraine, but there are Alphajets lined up under canopies near the runway. Thanks to Franco-Belgian cooperation, we managed to get several of these twin-engine aircraft. Their advantage is that they are equipped with an instrument panel that imitates the F-16 panel,”
the journalists write.
According to the Air Force, there are currently only 10 Ukrainian pilots in the country, aged between 21 and 23. Some of them have never flown before, while others have experience flying the L-39 Albatros, a Czech-made training aircraft. They previously spent several months studying English in the UK.
