U.S. to train Ukrainians on piloting F-16 fighter jets in Arizona: Pentagon – National | 24CA News
The U.S. will begin coaching Ukrainian pilots to fly U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, starting at an Air National Guard base in October, the Pentagon stated Thursday.
The coaching is a part of a U.S. and European effort to get the superior fighter jets to Ukraine for its protection in opposition to invading Russian forces.
American navy officers stress it takes years of coaching to have the ability to area F-16 squadrons, limiting the affect the plane could have on Ukraine’s protection for the close to future.
“This is about the long-term support to Ukraine,” the Pentagon spokesman, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, instructed reporters in Washington. “This is not about the counteroffensive that they’re conducting right now.”
The coaching will happen at Morris Air National Guard base in Tucson, Arizona. The pilots will first endure English instruction at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, to convey their fluency as much as the extent wanted to function the plane, beginning subsequent month, Ryder stated.
Ukraine has lengthy pressed for the American fighter jets to assist defend its cities and forces from Russian artillery and aviation. Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway introduced in latest days they might provide the plane to Ukraine.
Ryder stated the U.S. determined to hitch European allies within the coaching to keep away from bottlenecks in bringing Ukrainian pilots in control.
The U.S. coaching would accommodate “several” Ukrainian fighter pilots and dozens of upkeep folks for the jets, he stated.
For skilled pilots, coaching can vary round 5 months, Ryder stated. He sketched out programs protecting fundamentals. In addition to flying the superior craft, they embody formation flying, working weapons, air fight and suppressing air protection techniques, on high of centrifuge coaching on the bottom to assist pilots face up to the g-forces of an F-16 cockpit.
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