Ukraine desperately wants more F-16 trainees since it's only getting 20 pilots to fly 85 warplanes: report
Ukraine wants to train another 30 pilots for the F-16s it's going to get, Politico reported.
But training facilities in Arizona, Denmark, and Romania can't fill that demand, per the outlet.
That means Ukraine will likely only have 20 pilots for the 85 F-16s it's receiving from Europe.
Ukraine is urgently pressing the US and its allies to free up seats at their F-16 training schools so Kyiv can use the dozens of warplanes gifted by NATO members, Politico reported.
But the outlet reported, citing three anonymous sources familiar with the situation, that Ukraine's Western allies cannot train all the pilots Kyiv is asking for.
Politico reported on Wednesday that Ukraine is expected to field about 20 F-16 pilots this year and is asking the US if it can train an additional 30.
Yet, the F-16 school in Tucson, Arizona, can at most accept only 12 Ukrainian trainees at a time since other countries also have contracts to train their pilots at the facility, per Politico.
"We understand they don't want to break those contracts, but they could move their American pilots to a different base for training," Sasha Ustinova, a Ukrainian lawmaker who frequently lobbies Washington for aid to Kyiv, told the outlet.
The dozen Ukrainian F-16 pilots at Tucson are still being taught to fly their fighters or were part of the first batch reported in late May to complete their training, which the National Guard is providing.
There's also a training facility in Denmark. But, per Politico, it's only taken eight Ukrainian pilots and is set to close its F-16 program in November as it switches to the F-35.
Another training program in Romania, run by Lockheed Martin and subcontractor Draken, is expected to start soon. However, it's costly, and according to Politico, it plans to take only eight Ukrainian pilots.
With the Romania program not up yet, that means Ukraine is estimated to receive 20 F-16 pilots by year's end.
With operational F-16 squadrons usually including between 18 to 24 jets, Ukraine's unlikely to fly even a full squadron before 2025. Squadrons typically field several more pilots than the exact number of jets they have.
Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Belgium are donating 85 F-16s to Ukraine, enough to form what Kyiv's air force hopes will be four squadrons of about 16 warplanes. Brand-new F-16s cost about $63 million each.
These donated fighters, built in the 1980s, are more modern upgrades to Ukraine's current slate of combat aircraft and were once considered a possible tool for Kyiv to achieve vital air superiority with better weapons and radar range.
But US officials have cautioned that the F-16s won't be a cure-all for Ukraine.
The warplanes "will give the Ukrainians an increment of capability that they don't have right now," Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in May 2023. "But it's not going to be a dramatic game changer, as far as I'm concerned, for their total military capabilities."
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