The United States is waiting for European officials to provide them with a final training plan to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. About it writes CNN with reference to officials.
Training was scheduled to start in August. However, before the program for the training of Ukrainian pilots begins to operate, the United States must approve it.
In addition, it is not yet clear which countries will provide F-16s for training and for Ukraine itself after training is completed. The transfer of aircraft to Ukraine will also require a separate permit from the United States.
Earlier , Politico reported that despite the fact that Denmark and the Netherlands lead a coalition of 11 states that support the training of the Ukrainian military, so far no country has allocated aircraft for this program.
The U.S. is still deciding whether to send U.S. pilots to train Ukrainians, sources told CNN, but no decisions will be made until a final training plan is approved. Key details, including dates, location and duration of the training course, are still being worked out, White House National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said last week.
It is assumed that the training will take place in Denmark and Romania.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said earlier that the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 aircraft will begin in August.
At the same time, according to one of Politico’s interlocutors, the training of Ukrainian pilots will begin at the end of this year, and the first planes will not arrive in Ukraine until the spring of 2024.
- In early July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that there was still no schedule for training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighters, and expressed bewilderment that Western partners, as he put it, were delaying the start of training.
- Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukraine has lost most of its military aviation fleet, Kyiv is demanding that its Western allies provide the army with modern fighters.
Source : Radio Liberty
