According to Le Monde, France has undertaken the task of training 26 Ukrainian pilots for maneuverable F-16 fighters. The project, which is taking place in a hangar at an air base in southwestern France, has been underway for several months and is part of a wider military-technical cooperation between the two countries.
“There are no F-16s, the fighters they are supposed to fly in Ukraine, but Alphajets lined up under canopies near the runway.
Thanks to Franco-Belgian cooperation, it was possible to obtain several of these twin-engine aircraft. Their advantage is that they are equipped with an instrument panel that imitates the panel of the F-16," the journalists write.
According to the Air and Space Forces, there are currently only 10 Ukrainian pilots aged 21 to 23 in the country. Some of them have never flown before, while others have experience flying the L-39 Albatros, a Czech-made training aircraft. Before that, they studied English in Great Britain for several months.
