The Pentagon will begin training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets inside the US and could start as early as September, a US official told The New York Times on Thursday.
The US initially said that the training would only be conducted in Europe unless the countries leading it, the Netherlands and Denmark, reached capacity. “[We’re] open to training existing pilots if capacity is reached in Europe,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said on Monday.
“That’s the condition. So, if Denmark and the Netherlands are taking the lead on training, if they just do not have the capacity … to train as many pilots as Ukraine wants to send or plans to send, then we will … help train stateside,” she added.
The US official speaking to the Times said the training in the US would start with English lessons in Texas followed by months of flying lessons in Arizona. Earlier this year, the Air Force concluded that at least some Ukrainian pilots could learn to operate F-16s within four to five months, but it’s not clear how long the full training process will take inside the US.
The Washington Post recently reported that the training in Europe involves four months of English classes and then six months of combat training, meaning the first class of Ukrainian pilots won’t complete the process until around next summer. However long the training takes, it’s clear that Ukraine will not be using F-16s on the battlefield this year.
On Sunday, the Netherlands and Denmark became the first countries to formally pledge that they will be providing Ukraine with F-16s once the training is complete. The US hasn’t made any pledges to send planes yet, but the Biden administration has not ruled out the possibility.
The provision of F-16s to Ukraine marks a significant escalation of US and NATO support for Ukraine and demonstrates how the Western alliance is expecting to support the war for the long term. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has noted that F-16s are capable of carrying nuclear weapons and has said Moscow will view the jets as a nuclear threat.
In the early days of the war, NATO ruled out providing Ukraine with Soviet-made fighter jets over fears that Moscow would perceive the move as NATO directly entering the war. But earlier this year, Poland and Slovakia took the step of sending Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets.
The famed”Doomsday Clock”has us at 90 Seconds to MIDNIGHT.
How many more buttons does the US/West care to push us, closer to MIDNIGHT: DOOMSDAY?………………………………………………………….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Clock
Donna: it has moved beyond buttons to a greased zipper.
The “great reset” involves WW3 Donna, while the elite hide in their bunkers in the Swiss alps, they’ll watch the rest of the world burns.
I don`t think so the EU isn`t really up for WW3 they are only backing the INSANE yanks as a show of solidarity they have said as much , if they don`t then NATO is finished and they don`t want to give up all that free US security .
Not all of us in the USA are sanity challenged like the DC foreign policy nut jobs. Most are poorly informed, indoctrinated, intellectually lazy or just plain too busy to pay attention.
Hey ANAL YZER, could you tell Donna, Russia is also complicit on her end of world observations?
Don’t be an incel, and tell her yourself.
I believe in you.
Right, Because Russia isn’t pushing anybody. They are the victims.
Comparatively speaking Russia is amateurish. Do you need a list of US ‘perceived enemies? Let’s see, it’s Friday. Who do we have scheduled to do war games with today? Australia? Japan? South Korea? The Philippines? Israel? But, of course, that would be me just being anti-US again. Am I right Don?
As usual, defending Russia.
What’s new?
Yes, you are right about being anti US.
Comparing goons isn’t defending anyone numbnuts.
So, I take it you’re good with daily war games all over the planet? Why the fuck are you at a site called antiwar?
Better question is, Why the fuK are you here? You are the one supporting Russia’s war. Yes, you support the invasion and annexation of Ukraine. I support their self defense.
Why don’t you for once go fuk with one of the many Putin lovers here? No, that won’t happen, they are your buddies.
Seems to me your fight is only against those like me who support Ukraine.
How is wars r u.s. supporting this “Russia’s” war? Unless you consider supporting the Kiev regime against his will by having to pay for this and other wars through taxes and an inflated US currency.
You want to give your money to the Kiev regime? Go ahead. Leave me and now the majority of the people of the USA out of it.
I support peace and negotiations. You support more war. A war the US readily admits that they won’t support if it means direct conflict with Russia, A war in which the US flatly stated that they didn’t think Ukraine’s counteroffensive would be successful but encouraged them to continue on based on HOPE and COURAGe. A war that the US accused Ukraine of being casualty adverse because they would use tactics that would produce a large number of casualties. Self Defense my a$$. That’s throwing people into a meat grinder and not giving a flying f*ck about how many dead bodies it produces. And you call that SUPPORT!
And I am f*cking with one of the Putin lovers here. YOU.
You: “I used to respect Putin and side with him a while ago, that stopped in 2014”
Once again well after 2008 and Georgia. Now talk some more sh*T.
My Therapist tells me the road to sanity is paved by never using the word “WHY?” It never gets me a good answer and I get more frustrated. It’s like asking a rat why it’s eating its own poop? But since I’m a “conspiracy theorist,” it turns out the rat was just doing its job. (Sarcasm)
Great point, it explains the pro Russian mentality. Never question your emperor. Never ask “WHY.”
You need to get up to speed on how this war began , i suggest you start around the mid 1990s with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the promises made to Mikhail Gorbachev by the Americans / NATO you may just learn some thing , but being rabidly Anti Russian probably not .
No, I don’t have to.
This war began when Russia took Crimea and asked the separatists from Donbas to rebel against Kyiv, and continued when he wanted to establish a land corridor and take as much land from Ukraine as he could.
Nothing Biden’s gang says is good for more than a few hours. What a catastrophe this White House must be.
Like all bourgeois pols they’re masters of doublespeak.
“Pentagon to Start Training Ukrainian Pilots on F-16s in the US”
It will take at lease a year to be able to fly as a basic pilot. It will take another 2 to 3 years for proficiency to fly in combat.
They’re not making non-pilots into pilots. They’re training existing pilots on a new plane.
They’re making pilots into corpses.
Maybe. Personally I think it’s all for show. Both sides seem to understand that the age of manned, fixed-wing combat aircraft is over.
So’s our short lived unipolar world.
The new name for fixed winged piloted aircraft: targets.
Not even close, Tom. Not even. You are talking about a near future not yet here.
That would be Russia as they have the most planes and helicopters shot down.
Russia has the most planes and helicopters.. Hell, they have ALL the planes and helicopters PERIOD! 🇷🇺
What would US Air Force Europe General James Hecker know about Ukrainian’s sent to train on the F-16? He is only the top US Air force General in Europe!
USAFE General James Hecker – “Ukrainians Will Take Years to Master the F-16 Most Start with Zero Flight Time”
⚡️ It will take Ukrainian pilots up to five years to master American F-16 fighters at a sufficient level.
This opinion was expressed by the commander of the US Air Force in Europe and Africa, James Hecker, according to Air & Space Forces.
To learn how to fly the F-16, it won’t happen overnight. You can get the hang of some weapon systems fairly quickly.
But the likes of the F-16s take time to build… a couple of squadrons of F-16s and have them ready enough and their craftsmanship high enough. I mean it could be four or five years from now,” Hecker said. According to him, “Ukraine sends young pilots with practically zero flying time to learn how to fly the F-16.”
Recall that Denmark and the Netherlands promised Ukraine the F-16 only after sufficient pilot training.
https://www.airandspaceforces.com/usafe-boss-ukraine-f-16-2024-proficiency/
The Russians / Chinese will be back engineering them in no time at all , and be in full production.
Correct. I know a former F-16 pilot. The aircraft has its own characteristics. All trainees have to be centrifuge certified before training.
Just show them how to take off the rest will be on the job training just like in WW2 , new pilots had a life span of 2 weeks or less .
Will these new recruits start on a flight simulator or play modern warfare on PlayStation 5?
No, they aren’t in a basement gaming like you are.
But seriously … my impression is that at least 90% of flight training, at all levels, is on the simulator. There’s a shortage of trainers and planes and mechanics and parts, …. Candidates spend most of their time golfing.
LOL
Every F-16 taking off in UA will be met by 9 Russian fighters.. It is surprising that there are volunteers for this quick suicide..
They’ll end up in Africa, not Ukraine, bombing Somalis for NATO, very well paid and improving their golf game.
Or flying into office buildings just like the last batch of “Freedom Fighters” we nurtured.
Yep, the same 9 Russian fighters that have been flying freely all over Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Lol.
Ukrainian pilots could learn to operate F-16s within four to five months
Ukraine doesn’t have for to five months… They may not have for to five weeks.
The investment is a win-win proposition. The Empire has a shortage of fighter pilots and will be happy to just absorb them.
The Empire has a shortage of fighter pilots
It’ll soon have a shortage of F-16s to match… Can’t win for losing.
Good point ….
Well, they’ve been doing pretty good against the allegedly second best army in the world for the last 18 months but I guess Russia will finally take all of Ukraine over the next 5 weeks.
Russia doesn’t want “all of Ukraine”. Just Crimea and the Oblasts that chose to be a part of Russia.
Oh yes, after they realized it was not possible and had to settle with just the East.
The dumbos can`t see that they believe the Western propaganda that Putin wants all of Europe and then the world , that`s how they get the sheep to join their armed forces , fight for freedom and democracy lol , while the vested interests count the cash.
Would heads explode in D.C. if China was to train Russian pilots in China.
Or Iranian pilots in China. Or Niger pilots in China.
Probably do their training of flight simulators like the laughing called top guns / the RAF is no better , when was the last time the USAF or the RAF or any other NATO country fought a air force of equal standing ? , i`m over 70 years of age and can`t think of one .
After the Ukrainians have been attacked in the street for being White, with the media hiding the attack, they’ll support Russia instead.
Your biscuits just ain’t quite done in the middle, are they?
“After the Ukrainians have been attacked in the street for being White . . .”
Hmm. Not being familiar with that as a frequent happening on US streets, I ran a Google search for that phrase:
https://www.google.com/search?q=attacked+in+street+for+being+white&sca_esv=560228990&tbs=qdr%3Ay#ip=1
Once that training is completed they should train Ukrainians to launch Minuteman missiles from Minot Air Force base as well. Because that’s what it’ll lead to.
Once that training is completed they should train Ukrainians to launch Minuteman missiles from Minot Air Force base as well. Because that’s what it’ll lead to.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-82623-wagner-denouement-and
SITREP 8/26/23: Wagner Denouement and BRICS Rebirth
“Some interesting things have been happening at Tinker Air Force base in Oklahoma:
Most noteworthy is the deaths are being covered up and families not allowed to investigate the reasons. Some believe these are losses of American AD crews who operated the Kiev Patriot missiles in Ukraine, now being blackholed:
17 people died this year at a US Air Force base in Oklahoma due to “various causes”
Representatives of the Air Force and the base deliberately cover up the nature of the deaths. Leaked snippets of investigations show that “there have been base-related deaths this year, including potential suicides,” writes The Daily Mail.
There is a version that all 17 Americans “bounced” on a date with Bandera when the Kiev air defense Patriot reported on the “downed” Daggers.” Officially, the United States cannot send its military personnel to Ukraine, and it takes too long to train Bandera. So they recorded as 17 “suicides” coinciding with the arrival of hypersonic missiles.”
The grass is always greener near the cesspool.
Look out below.
We’re looking at 6- SIX- Ukranian pilots being trained in the US for F-16’s . It’s a ten month program with the first four being English lessons. And it’s set to begin in September. That puts the half-dozen ‘shake and bake’ pilots on track to be combat ready in just shy of a year. Does anyone really believe that the relative handful of pilots and aging F-16’s is going to make ANY difference in the conflict raging in the Ukraine? To be honest, I’m rather skeptical there will even BE a recognizable Ukraine for them to defend a year from now- chances are pretty good that all this will be over by then, wrapped up neatly in time for the US elections, and it won’t be on terms favorable to Kiev.
Even assuming the Fab Six make it through training (of course they will, we can’t let them fail!) what are their chances of surviving for more than a few days at best in stripped down, older model planes in an air environment that will likely be the most hostile since North Vietnam? Slim to none, I’ll wager.
The best play the Fab Six have is to put in a few sortie hours (to keep their handlers happy) and then strap in and fly to the nearest friendly country that will give them shelter.
So far as I can tell, the main purposes of F-16s for Ukraine are:
1) To get US “allies” to donate their old F-16s and buy new F-35s;
2) To make a little propaganda usage of the whole idea.
It’s not just that these pilots will be flying old aircraft that they’re not greatly experienced flying. It’s that this is not a war in which there’s much of a role for manned fixed-wing aircraft. Both sides have good air defense, and manned fixed-wing aircraft are being replaced by drone swarms and missile strikes.
So, they train the pilots, then what?? Ukraine has few airstrips that can handle F16 and those left, will be damaged to make it impossible to use. Then those F16’s need maintenance and parts, I doubt those countries who plan to supply F16’s are going to send people, I suspect those personnel will not been keen to go either. After that, you need ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) capability to provide targeting which normally is the role of the AWACS. I don’t see many of those flying over Ukrainian airspace. So, that then goes back to satellites, which mostly the West has. So now NATO, who was supposedly a defense entity now becomes an aggressor. FFS people, sit down and talk. Stop wasting Ukrainian lives. I suspect all Putin wants is a neutral Ukraine where NATO and US are not allowed to host weapons on Russia’s borders. He will of course also want the territory of Luhansk and Donesk to remain Russian. Don’t people see the West are trying to provoke a a bigger war. Russia will not be bullied, they may not win a bigger conflict, but the whole world will pay a BIG price.
NATO has already lost; 466 Aircraft, 247 helicopters, 6152 UAV’s, 433 Anti Aircraft systems, 11527 tanks inc. APC’s, 1144 multiple rocket launchers, 6079 field artillery and 12463 military automotive equipment. Approx. $1 Trillion of NATO hardware.
The AFU committed its last reserve brigade with western equipment to its disastrous so called counter-offensive. It will get ground up just like the forces it is replacing. Approx. $1 trillion of NATO support. Keep in mind Ukraine was the biggest and most equipped NATO army in Europe and Russia just mauled them.
Just the words they’re really going to need…
Like “Mayday Mayday…”.