Yahoo News has exclusively obtained an internal U.S. Air Force assessment that concludes it would take only four months to train Ukrainian pilots to operate American-made F-16 fighter jets, a far shorter time frame than what has been repeatedly cited by Pentagon officials.
The document, which was shared with a number of NATO allies, contains a detailed assessment undertaken in late February and early March at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, Ariz., home to the 162nd Wing of the U.S. Air Force. Two Ukrainian airmen, one qualified on the MiG-29, the other on the Su-27, were given “no formal training” on the F-16, according to the assessment, other than a brief familiarization.
The assessment, written by Lt. Col. Jared P. White of the 162nd, concludes that the Ukrainian pilots were able to carry out a number of “relatively technical” maneuvers in their simulated environments such as landing the aircraft after losing an engine in a scenario called a “flameout.” “After a single demonstration ... both pilots were able to successfully land the aircraft from an overhead simulated flameout pattern.
This revelation that Ukrainians could be combat-ready on F-16s much faster than expected comes amid an international push to supply Kyiv with modern Western fighter jets. In areleased Monday during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's recent visit to the United Kingdom, the British government reiterated its commitment to help train Ukrainian pilots as part of a program to"build a new Ukrainian air force with NATO-standard, F16 jets." The U.K.
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