The first US trained Ukrainian F-16 pilots will graduate soon

The first Ukrianian pilots trained by the United States on the F-16 are set to graduate sometime in May 2024 according to an estimate from the Air National Guard.

Air National Guard Director Lieutenant General Michael Loh revealed at the Air & Space Forces Association Warfare Symposium that the first four pilots were "pretty close" accoridng to Defense One.

The United States is training 12 Ukrianian pilots in 2024, all of which are set to graduate between May and August of the same year. The pilots are already “flying F-16s solo every day" but the training is a bit longer to ensure Ukraine's airmen can operate a “full range of missions."

Unfortunately, the United States won't be able to continue training Ukrainian pilots if Congress doesn't authorize more funding to pay for it soon.

“Training cost is tuition-based and that funding is allocated prior to student arrival. Students currently enrolled are not expected to be impacted by funding issues. If additional pilots are needing to be trained, additional funding will be necessary,” Arizona National Guard spokesperson Captin Erin Hannigan explained.

The United States began training Ukrianian pilots in October 2023. The exact number of pilots being instructed wasn’t disclosed but the spokesperson from the U.S. Air Force reported a “small number” of pilots had begun their training in Arizona under the 162nd Wing of the state’s Air National Guard. 

The Ukrainian pilots would learn the fundamentals of the F-16 airframe in what an U.S. Air Force spokesperson said would be a training period that could take several months and would align “foundational knowledge and skills of each pilot.”

Air & Space Forces Magazine broke the story and reported that the 162nd Wing of the Arizona Air National Guard is the only unit in the U.S. Air Force that trains foreign pilots on the F-16 as part of its regularly assigned mission. 

The 162nd Wing of the Arizona Air National Guard operates out of Tucson’s Morris Air National Guard Base and has experience training pilots from over two dozen different countries on how to fly and operate the F-16.

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons by Sunnya343

“They’re very intimately familiar with how we do training of foreign military pilots,” Lieutenant General. Loh explained in a September Air & Space Forces Magazine report. 

The average F-16 course usually takes about six months to train a pilot but U.S. officials have indicated that the training course designed for Ukrainian pilots won’t be standard but rather tailored to suit Ukraine's needs. 

Pilots were to be taught how to use the F-16 to protect Ukraine’s skies, something that Air & Space Forces Magazine noted would likely include countering Russian aircraft, missiles, and drones. 

“For Ukraine, it is going to be tailored for exactly what they need to do, which is multirole, both air-to-air and air-to-ground,” Loh explained. “We will train them to do the full multirole spectrum of what we can expect in their theory of conflict.”

Ukraine’s F-16 pilots are not expected to be defending the country’s skies until at least mid-2024, which should give U.S. instructors lots of time to train the additional ground crews the country pledged to teach in August a Department of Defense news release reported. 

"Part of this training will be assessing the individual pilots' skill level,” Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Patrick Ryder explained when he announced U.S. plans to train Ukraine pilots on August 24th, 2023. 

Ryder noted that assessing Ukrainian pilot skill levels would help determine the length of time it would take to train the pilots, adding that experienced pilots could be trained in as little as five months. 

At the time the training program was announced, details were sparse. But Ryder said it would consist of several courses that ranged from basic flight training to instruction on fighter fundamentals, combat maneuvering, and tactical intercept skills.

"The Ukrainian people have inspired the world with their courage and resolve to defend their right to live in a sovereign, democratic, and free country," Ryder said. "We will support Ukraine for as long as it takes in its fight for its security and freedom," he added.

CNN reported that the Ukrainian pilots completed their initial language training in San Antonio, Texas at the Defense Language Institute English Language Center and added that 200 personnel would also be trained on maintaining F-16s after their language training. 

The United States hosted two Ukrainian Air Force pilots in May in order to assess their abilities to fly advanced fighter jets and found that the pilots had “above average” skills according to a quote from CNN.