Two Ukrainian pilots are in the U.S. for training assessment on attack aircraft, including F-16s
The arrival of the two pilots marks the first time Ukrainian pilots have traveled to the U.S. to have their skills evaluated by American military trainers.
A F-16 Fighting Falcon flies during a NATO air shielding exercise in Lask, Poland in 2022.Omar Marques / Getty Images file
U.S. authorities have approved bringing up to 10 more Ukrainian pilots to the U.S. for further assessment as early as this month, the officials said.
The arrival of the first two pilots marks the first time Ukrainian pilots have traveled to the U.S. to have their skills evaluated by American military trainers. Officials said the effort has twin goals: to improve the pilots’ skills and evaluate how long a proper training program could take.
“The program is about assessing their abilities as pilots so we can better advise them on how to use capabilities they have and we have given them,” an administration official said.
Two administration officials stressed that it isn’t a training program and said that the Ukrainians will not be flying any aircraft during their time in the U.S.
These officials said the pilots will be using a simulator that can mimic flying various types of aircraft, and they emphasized that there are no updates on the U.S. decision to provide F-16’s to Ukraine beyond what the Pentagon’s top policy official said to Congress last week.
The official, Colin Kahl, told the House Armed Services Committee that the U.S. has not made the decision to provide F-16’s and neither had U.S. allies and partners.
He also said the U.S. has “not started training on F-16s” and that the delivery timeline for F-16s is “essentially the same” as the training timeline, about 18 months.
“So you don’t actually save yourself time by starting the training early in our assessment,” said Kahl, who is the under secretary of defense for policy. “And since we haven’t made the decision to provide F-16’s and neither have our allies and partners, it doesn’t make sense to start to train them on a system they may never get.”
Other U.S. defense officials have said the training could be shortened to six to nine months, depending on the pilots previous training and knowledge of fighter aircraft.
The arrival of the two pilots marks the first time Ukrainian pilots have traveled to the U.S. to have their skills evaluated by American military trainers.
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