A Ukrainian official said Wednesday that Kyiv has given up hope that it will be able to use US-made F-16 fighter jets this year as the training process is facing delays.
“It’s already obvious we won’t be able to defend Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets during this autumn and winter,” Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said. “We had big hopes for this plane, that it will become part of air defense, able to protect us from Russia’s missiles and drones terrorism.”
President Biden gave the green light for European countries to deliver F-16s to Ukraine in the spring, but the training process has barely begun. According to The Washington Post, the first batch of Ukrainian pilots won’t finish their training until at least next summer.
Just six pilots are taking part in the first round of training, which involves four months of English classes in Britain, then six months of combat training that will start in January. Another batch of pilots are expected to complete their training six months after the initial class.
Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny has been complaining that NATO countries would never try to launch a counteroffensive like Ukraine’s without air superiority and has been demanding F-16s. The Post reported in July that US officials privately believe Western jets wouldn’t make much of a difference in the current fight due to Russia’s extensive air defenses.
Russia has warned strongly against the provision of F-16s to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has noted they’re capable of carrying nuclear weapons and has said Moscow will view the jets as a nuclear threat.
Translation: Ukraine says it has no hopes to use F-16’s.
Period. ‘Cause this sh*tshow’s gonna be wrapped up by next summer.
The F16s will make no difference to the final outcome in the war in Ukraine. Russia has hundreds of 4th / 5th Generation fighter aircraft plus excellent ground-based anti-aircraft missiles. The ONLY goal of the Neocons / MIC is perpetual warfare. They care nothing for Ukraine or Ukrainians. Nothing.
Darn!
Those were going to completely change the trajectory of that war as soon as they got there.
Or at least that was the lies we were told.
Great news for Ukrainian pilots. That outdated trash is inferior to any Soviet jets in limited AFU arsenal. The only thing that Ukrainian pilots need to learn is how to use ejection system so they can escape that flying Russian target at the first opportunity.
Next year? What about China? We got them booked for 2025. Can’t be fucking around with Ukraine much longer.
The four-star general in charge of Air Mobility Command, Gen. Mike Minihan, made headlines earlier this year for predicting that the US would be at war with China by 2025 in a memo to his officers.
https://news.antiwar.com/2023/08/16/us-air-force-holds-china-war-drill-rehearsing-casualty-evacuations-in-the-pacific/
Ukraine Says It Has No Hopes to Use F-16s This Year.
“The first Ukrainian pilots aren’t expected to complete their F-16 training until next summer”
“Just six pilots are taking part in the first round of training, which involves four months of English classes in Britain, then six months of combat training that will start in January. Another batch of pilots are expected to complete their training six months after the initial class.”
Ab initio (meaning “from the beginning”) programs are military training programs that take an individual with
very little or no flight experience and create a competent, professional fighter pilot.
In America it takes 2 to 3 years to produce a neophyte fighter pilot with marginal hope of survival without further training in a fighter squadron. This is from a population of native English speakers.
In 10 months they will have kittens instead of tigers!!!
This is a soap opera, and the western populace are the slack-jawed idgits gaping at each morsel of bullshit that comes out of Biden and company’s behind.