Brinkmanship and Alternative Truths

The U.S. will begin training Ukrainian F-16 pilots within two months—so stated Pentagon Press Secretary USAF Brigadier General Pat Ryder.

Ryder cited no specific numbers, but set forth Ukrainian F-16 pilot and maintenance trainees would number “several” and “dozens” respectively.

Previously, Ryder stated the U.S. would participate in the training of Ukrainian F-16 pilots and maintainers only if the Netherlands and Denmark—the nations providing the U.S.-built fighter jets to Kyiv—exceeded their capacities to provide subject training.

“We know that as the Danes and the Dutch prepare to train those pilots that at a certain point in time in the future, capacity will be reached,” Ryder remarked.

The described training will commence in October at Tucson, Arizona’s Morris Air National Guard Base, and will be conducted under the auspices of the Air National Guard’s 162nd Wing; so stated Ryder.

In September, the Ukrainian pilot trainees will receive English language tutorials at San Antonio, Texas’s Lackland Air Force Base.

As the experience and proficiency of the Ukrainian pilots is unknown, details pertaining to their flight-training curriculum to include the organization and duration thereof, remain uncertain, Ryder conceded.

Tasked historically with training foreign pilots to operate the fourth-generation F-16 Falcon platform, the 162nd Wing has, to date, schooled pilots hailing from 25 nations.

Morris Air National Guard Base occupies the northwest quadrant of the Tucson International Airport (TUS) and shares facilities, to include runways, with such. Three of the Wing’s fighter squadrons—the 148th, 152nd, and 195th—operate the F-16.

A USAF official stated in an email that pilots lacking previous fighter-jet experience could likely complete the service’s standard F-16 qualification course in approximately eight-months. Conversely, experienced fighter pilots, via the USAF’s transition qualification track—could be taught to proficiently fly the F-16 in five-months—more or less.

The USAF has operated General Dynamics’s F-16 Fighting Falcon for upwards of forty-years. The aircraft is capable of carrying a wide variety of munitions, the more potent of which include the AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile and the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAM). The aircraft—by dint of its single Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 afterburning turbofan engine—boasts a maximum speed of Mach 2.05 (1,366.8-knots), a combat range of 295-nautical-miles, a ferry-range of 2,277-nautical-miles, and a service-ceiling of FL500. In addition to the antecedent missile systems and a formidable collection of rockets, bombs, and targeting pods, the F-16 sports a single 20-millimeter M61A1 Vulcan six-barrel rotary-cannon.

All told, up to 61 Dutch and Danish F-16s could eventually enter Ukrainian service. The Netherlands, according to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, currently has 42 F-16s available for transfer.

The government of Denmark stated on 20 August that it would send 19 F-16s to Ukraine. Moreover, the Danish military disclosed it is currently training eight Ukrainian pilots and 65 Ukrainian technical personnel to fly and maintain the F-16.

Greece and Norway, too, have agreed to supply Ukraine with either fighter jets or pilot training.

To the subject of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict’s looming escalation, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky set forth on social-media: “Our F-16 coalition is proving its efficiency.”

The export of U.S. military aircraft requires State Department authorization. In May 2023, Joe Biden stated he was in favor of Ukraine’s receipt of U.S. warplanes. U.S. leaders, while refusing to directly provide Ukraine combat aircraft, wholeheartedly support the notion of third-party NATO states provisioning Ukraine with meaningful numbers of F-16s.

FMI: www.state.gov