Defense Express has noticed an increased attention to the artificial topic of Ukrainian pilots allegedly training on the American A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft in the United States, there was even a video attached.
These claims have been going around open media for a while, with various footage of A-10 flights captioned with statements that Ukrainian pilots would soon be using them in Ukraine.
Read more: Will the A-10 Thunderbolt II Help And Should the Armed Forces of Ukraine Count On It At All?
However, even a brief look is enough to see some details causing serious doubts. For instance, why the 'Ukrainian pilots' do wear the insignia of the USAF Air Combat Command and the Heritage Flight team known for performing group flights on aircraft from various eras.
Maybe that's why in the footage, a group of 'Ukrainian pilots in training' includes one operating the P-51 Mustang from the World War II era.
There are also videos of the flights made by USAF fighter pilots on A-10 at various air bases, not only in the US but also in South Korea.
However, besides just spreading misinformation that could make a false impression to the people not so familiar with this topic, all these fakes can be more dangerous than they look.
The problem is, Ukraine's main goal on the international stage for the past months was to get multirole fighters of the 4+ Gen. It means F-16, F-15, F/A-18, Gripen, Rafale, or Eurofighter, and among them all, the F-16 looks like the most realistic option. On the other hand, such highly specialized attack jets as the A-10 do not fit Ukraine's needs that well, all the more the US has not that many Thunderbolts to offer, and Congress has been blocking decommissioning this jet for many years.
Fair to note, Defense Express also assessed the possibility that Ukrainian pilots had a try on A-10 Thunderbolt II during their visit to the US a month ago. Some Ukrainian officials were seeing Thunderbolt as a good reinforcement for their Air Force, too. But while discussing the need for the A-10, Ukrainian military top brass are unanimous that the F-16 is essential in the first place.
Precisely modern multirole fighters capable of carrying a wide range of weapons and giving a proper air fight at distances much bigger than Soviet MiG-29 or Su-27 can engage. Aircraft for Ukraine must be superior over russian Su-30 and Su-35 in terms of radar detection and engagement range, this difference is crucial to prevent russian bombers from dropping glide bombs while staying out of reach of Ukrainian air defense systems.
And so spreading any fakes about Ukrainian pilots already 'training' on other types of Western aircraft diverts attention from the real needs of the country fighting off russian aggressive war of attrition and goes against the flow of the process of acquiring necessary fighter jets.
Read more: Ukraine Needs Multirole Fighters Are More Than A-10 Thunderbolt – Minister Reznikov
