The Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren notes this today in a letter to the Dutch House of Representatives, the country’s Ministry of Defense states on its official website.
According to the statement, the Dutch Defense Ministry is working together with Denmark and with the support of the US on a plan for training Ukrainian pilots of F-16. "In consultation with, among others, Belgium, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom as well as the industry, all those involved are now working on the content of the training courses,” the Ministry’s statement reads.
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As the Dutch Defense Ministry states, the plan for F-16 training to Ukraine consists of 3 tracks:
1. Start the first conversion training to the F-16 for Ukrainian pilots as soon as possible.
2. Language proficiency and initial or basic flight training and
3. The establishment of an F-16 training center in one of the eastern NATO member states.
According to the statement, the training sessions start with a limited number of Ukrainian pilots but there may be more later on.
The Dutch Defense Ministry also states that amid russias latest terror attacs on Ukraine, including a destruction of Kakhovka Dam as well as "bombarding Ukrainian civilian and military targets by air, killing and wounding again today and yesterday", the Netherlands is contributing to Ukraine’s air defense. According to the Ministry it will be announced tomorrow during the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG, also known as the Ramstein group) that the Netherlands is contributing € 40 million to purchase air defense equipment in a multilateral partnership, which will be delivered to Ukraine in the very short term.
In addition, the Dutch Defense Ministry is purchasing 4 VERA-EG passive surveillance system worth €150 million. The system is designed for detection, localization, tracking and identification of the air, ground and naval targets as well as exceptional pulse and continuous wave signal analysis. In this way, the Netherlands contributes to the integrated air defense of Ukraine. These capacities are in addition to previous deliveries, the Ministry states.
As Defense Express reported, The Netherlands Was Ready to Hand Over F-16 Fighters to Ukraine. We also wrote, that Netherlands Commited €260 Million to Joint Ammunition Acquisition for Ukraine, Focus on 155 mm Munitions.
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