A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet takes off on the second day of Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru on February 14, 2023.
Manjunath Kiran | AFP Getty Images
Two Ukrainian pilots are currently in the United States conducting an assessment to determine how long it will take to train them to fly attack aircraft, including F-16 fighter jets, according to two congressional officials and a senior US official.
The Ukrainian’s skills are being evaluated in a simulator at a US military base in Tucson, Arizona, officials said, and may soon be joined by other pilots.
US authorities have approved bringing up to 10 more Ukrainian pilots to the US for early assessment starting this month, the official said.
The arrival of the first two pilots marks the first time Ukrainian pilots have traveled to the US to have their skills evaluated by American military trainers. Officials say the effort has a twin goal: improving the pilots’ skills and evaluating how long a proper training program should last.
“The program is about evaluating their ability to be pilots so that we can better advise them on how to use the abilities they have and have been given,” said an administration official.
Two administration officials insisted it was not a training program and said the Ukrainians would not fly any aircraft during their time in the US.
The official said the pilots will use a simulator that can simulate flying different types of aircraft, and he stressed that there was no update on the US decision to provide F-16s to Ukraine beyond what top Pentagon policy officials told Congress last week. .
The official, Colin Kahl, told the House Armed Services Committee that the U.S. has not made a decision to provide the F-16 and neither have U.S. allies and partners.
He also said the U.S. “has not started F-16 training” and that the delivery timeline for the F-16 is “essentially the same” as the training timeline, about 18 months.
“So you’re not actually saving time by starting training early in our assessment,” said Kahl, who is the defense secretary for policy. “And since we haven’t made a decision to provide the F-16 and we don’t have allies and partners, it doesn’t make sense to train them in a system that won’t work.”
Another US defense official said the training could be shortened to six to nine months, depending on the pilots’ previous training and knowledge of fighter jets.
Ukrainian officials have told the U.S. and other allies that they have less than 20 pilots ready to travel to the U.S. for F-16 training and 30 more could be trained in the future, according to American and Western officials.
Asked about the assessment of the two Ukrainian pilots, the defense official described it as a “familiar event.”
“This is a routine activity as part of a military-to-military dialogue with Ukraine,” the official said.
“Familiarization events” mean discussions between Air Force personnel and observations of how the US Air Force operates. This event allows us to further help Ukrainian pilots to become more effective pilots and give more advice on how to develop their own abilities. .”
The defense official added that there are no immediate plans to increase the number of pilots beyond the two currently in Tucson but said that “we are not closing the door on future opportunities.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly asked the US for F-16s, but President Joe Biden has rejected those requests so far. In an interview with ABC News last month, Biden said that Ukraine did not need the F-16s at this time, adding that it was based on the advice of the US military.
“I decided now,” he said when asked if he would send F-16s to Ukraine.
Biden also told reporters last week that he had discussed the F-16 with Zelenskyy during a visit to Kyiv on February 20 but would not disclose details of the discussion.
In an appearance before the House Armed Services Committee, Kahl said Ukrainian officials have asked the U.S. for 128 aircraft — a mix of F-15s, F-16s, and F-18s.
Kahl said the US Air Force estimates that Ukraine will need between 50 and 80 F-16s to replace its current air force. If the U.S. supplies newly built aircraft, it will take three to six years to deliver them to Ukraine, with a slightly shorter timeline of 18 to 24 months if the U.S. delivers upgraded older model F-16s.
The cost to deliver the F-16 will be up to $11 billion, depending on the model and the number delivered.
“This will use up a large portion of the remaining security assistance for this fiscal year,” Kahl said.
On Sunday, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said US military officials told him he supported providing F-16s to Ukraine.
“I was at the Munich Security Conference, meeting with a lot of high-ranking military officials, including our top allied commanders,” McCaul said on ABC News’ “This Week.”
“They are all happy that we put not only F-16s but long-range artillery, to take down Iranian drones in Crimea.”
But with long timelines for delivery and training of the F-16s, high price tags and a large Russian Air Force already massing aircraft on the border with Ukraine, some US military leaders have suggested focusing on weapons and equipment that Ukraine can use directly from the air. defense system.
“Even in our most earnest efforts, it took months to get the Ukrainians to fly F-16s. They beat the Russian Air Force with their air defenses, why would we change tactics now?” US defense officials said.
The Russian Air Force has about 500 planes, the official said, dwarfing Ukrainian forces.
“This is no way to fight the Russian Air Force,” the official added. “Even if we spend all the money and send every plane we can, it’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the Russian Air Force.”