No F-16 engines yet: Ukrainian pilots train on American simulators

No F-16s yet
Ukrainian pilots train on American simulators

03/05/2023, 11:05 AM

Ukraine has been asking for Western warplanes since the start of the war. In Arizona, two Ukrainian pilots are allowed to train in US military simulators – but not for F-16 jets, only for their own engines. According to one statement, training should be about something else.

According to government sources, the US military is training two Ukrainian pilots in flight simulators. A spokesman for the US Department of Defense said the aim was to train the two pilots on their own military aircraft, not US F-16s. Training at a base in Arizona is designed to help Ukrainian pilots improve their skills. At the same time, the possibility of providing advice to the Air Force of Ukraine should be improved.

Similar training programs have recently been conducted by other allies of Ukraine. The US recently reiterated that it would not deliver the fighter jets, regardless of Ukraine’s insistence. However, he reports US-sender CNN The training of two Ukrainian pilots asked three people familiar with the matter to find out how long it would take Ukrainians to train to fly U.S. fighter jets, including F-16 jets. Their skills will also be tested for this.

The debate over the delivery of Western fighter jets to Ukraine has been simmering for some time. More recently, Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš called for such machines to be available to states that support Kyiv. “It is only a matter of time before the delivery of fighter jets. I don’t see why the West should not provide fighter jets,” he told Der Spiegel. “If the Ukrainians need fighter jets, they should get them,” he said.

US President Joe Biden ruled out the delivery of fighter jets in a televised interview in late February. Considering Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s demands, Biden said: “He doesn’t need the F-16 right now.” From the US military’s point of view, there is no reason to get fighter jets right now. But one cannot know what will be needed in one, two or three years, the president replied when asked if he ruled out providing fighter jets for the future. “I rule it out now,” Biden said.