The Ukrainian Air Force is working to solve one of the major issues on its way to obtaining a larger number of Western fighter jets. When Ukraine was pushing its partners to provide F-16 multirole fighters, the key problem was where and how to train pilots to operate these jets.
Domestic facilities were lacking in capacity, exacerbated by the need to re-educate experienced combat pilots for a different type of aircraft and the requirement that trainees be fluent not just in English but in domain-specific Aviation English.
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What's often forgotten in this context is that simultaneously with the courses for experienced pilots, another training program for fresh graduates of Ukraine's Kharkiv Air Force University took place in Great Britain. As earlier mentioned by Ukrainian Air Force Command, the program spanned two years and included learning aviation terminology in English and practicing on light aircraft for young pilots.
Yesterday, October 22nd, British defense ministry official Luke Pollard announced that Great Britain has already trained 200 Ukrainian specialists, and "these pilots will soon be flying Ukrainian F-16s."
Did you know the UK has now trained 200 Ukrainian pilots?Today I attended the graduation of the latest pilots from the RAF’s training programme. These pilots will soon be flying Ukrainian F-16s. Britain will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes https://t.co/wbsdmXfARF— Luke Pollard MP (@LukePollard) October 22, 2024
In other words, these are rookie pilots who underwent a full training course at a Western flight school, practically from scratch. However, of course, they are not yet ready pilots who can sit in the cockpit of the F-16 and begin to perform combat missions right away.
If we recall the official F-16 training program of the U.S. Air Force, the cadet must first gain experience flying a jet trainer. Presumed that in the UK, Ukrainian pilots trained not only on Grob G-115 propeller-driven aircraft but also on Alpha Jet, they will only have to fly another 1.5 to 2 months on the dual-purpose AT-38 light combat and trainer aircraft. Otherwise, they will need to gain experience at piloting a jet-driven aircraft for at least 7 months on a T-38, which is reserved exclusively for training.
Only after all that, a recruit can start the standard training course on the F-16 itself. It lasts 9 months in the basic version or up to 12 months with additional courses: for example, on how to break through an area saturated with air defenses. On the other hand, the European basic training course is known to be a little shorter, taking 8 months. According to prior official announcements, Ukrainian pilots will be trained both in the USA and in Romania, the planned duration was not disclosed.
The silver lining is, the Ukrainian Air Force and partners are actively addressing the challenge of personnel training. These 200 new young pilots, just from the UK only, will join the Ukrainian pilots who have already completed or are completing the course on F-16.
Based on the standard ratio of 2 crews per 1 aircraft in active service, over 200 pilots is still many more than necessary to operate all the F-16 and Mirage 2000-5 fighters that have already arrived and promised to Ukraine. In fact, it is much closer to Ukraine's declared current demand for combat aircraft: 128 units. Taking into account the fact that each training spot costs a lot of money, it is unlikely that Ukrainian pilots would be trained in London simply for the sake of training. Which means, Ukraine has set its sights on getting a significantly larger number of aircraft than currently anticipated.
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