Ukraine is set to receive 60 F-16 fighter jets from its Western allies in the near future, but the country is facing significant difficulties in training pilots for these aircraft. According to German news portal T-Online, only 15 to 20 pilots have been trained so far, which poses serious challenges for the effective introduction of the new aircraft.
The US is responsible for this development. “The training center in Tucson, USA, has reached the limit of its capabilities,” as it has to train F-16 pilots for several countries at once.
Erin Hannigan, the public relations officer for the US Air National Guard, confirmed that the 162nd Squadron can train 30 foreign pilots annually. She said that increasing that number is “impossible.”.
“Now the question arises: did the US know how many pilots it would actually be able to train when it promised training capacity?” asks the German portal.
T-Online points out that Romania and Denmark are also “unable to accept more pilots into their programs.” Moreover, Denmark is even closing its F-16 pilot training program because it is switching to the F-35. Citing the Ukrainian press, T-Online writes that it is precisely the problems with the lack of places in the F-16 pilot training programs that may be behind the “agreement with France” on the supply of Mirage-2000 fighters.
