An Israeli army officer assessed whether it is realistic to train pilots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the F-16 in 4 months
According to him, 18 months are allocated for the training of pilots who have not flown before.
Israel Defense Forces Major Victor Vertsner said that Ukrainian pilots could well learn how to fly F-16 fighter jets in four months.
“18 months is not a deadline for experienced pilots, it is a deadline for pilots who have never flown, in particular in jet fighters,” he stressed on the FREEDOM TV channel.
Werzner said that in Israel, 3 years of intensive training from scratch are allocated for pilot training. The terms of retraining for another aircraft model are about six months.
“This means that 18 months is the training period for people who, in any case, did not fly fighter jets. For example, the period for retraining in Israel from one aircraft model to another, Western aircraft models, is about six months. Therefore, it seems to me that if If this (training of Ukrainian pilots for 4 months – ed.) was not real, then Washington would not confirm such terms,” the Major of the Israel Defense Forces Reserve summed up.
F-16 aircraft for Ukraine
The speaker of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yuriy Ignat, said that F-16 fighters will help Ukraine win the war that Russia unleashed against our country. According to him, these planes will help protect the Ukrainian sky. In addition, the effectiveness of the use of HARM missiles, JDAM guided bombs and the like will increase.
On May 19, US President Joe Biden announced that the States would support the training of Ukrainian pilots on the F-16. Later, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed that the United States and allied countries plan to transfer these aircraft to Ukraine, but they are not used in a future UAF counteroffensive. In addition, it is not yet known when, from which countries and how many F-16 fighters will Ukraine receive.
The Ministry of Defense predicts that partners will provide these fighters to Ukraine this fall.