Yahoo News journalists have obtained an internal US Air Force assessment of two Ukrainian pilots who have been demonstrating their skills on a flight simulator for two weeks and appear to have exceeded all Pentagon expectations. It is estimated that it will take about four months to train Ukrainian pilots to fly US F-16s. This is much less than the Pentagon had anticipated.
The assessment was conducted in late February and early March. The document reports that the two Ukrainian pilots, one flying a MiG-29 and the other a Su-27, had received “no formal training” to fly the F-16, other than a brief introduction to the aircraft. However, they were tested on a flight simulator, completing “9 exercises with a total duration of 11.5 hours”. The pilots were evaluated by four US Air Force instructors with many hours of F-16 experience.
The assessment says that the Ukrainian pilots were able to perform a number of “relatively technical” manoeuvres in simulated conditions, such as landing the aircraft after an engine failure in a scenario called a flameout. “This is a relatively technical skill that needs to be continuously practiced throughout the career of an F-16 pilot,” the document says. Both pilots were also able to “perform a simulated attack based on the parameters that were transmitted during the flight in the simulator”.
The main training problem was that the Ukrainian pilots did not feel comfortable with the complex avionics of the F-16, which displays information in English. Language proficiency was also cited as a “concern”, although the evaluators claimed that both Ukrainian pilots “improved their English skills significantly over the course of the two weeks”. The report therefore concludes that “given the current level of skills demonstrated by the Ukrainian Air Force pilots… four months is a realistic training period”.
Два наших пілоти без формального інструктажу і з одною наочною демонстрацією успішно виконали на симуляторі Ф-16, вправу "посадка після відмови двигуна". На одномоторних це обов'язкова частина підготовки і на надзвукових – один з найскладніших моментів на екзаменах https://t.co/twQR6OXewg pic.twitter.com/RstG3Af0Mw
— Віддавай (***), (***) (@viddavaj) May 18, 2023
The document may increase pressure on Ukraine’s main allies, who have previously argued that Western aircraft are too complex and that pilot training would take too long, almost 18 months. And the news that Ukrainians can master the F-16 much faster than expected comes amid international efforts to supply Ukraine with modern Western fighters.
Earlier, the British government confirmed its readiness to help train Ukrainian pilots as part of a programme to “create a new Ukrainian air force based on NATO-standard F-16 aircraft”. British Member of Parliament Alicia Cairns said in an interview with Yahoo News that the US Air Force assessment “has called into question some of the arguments against providing aircraft to our Ukrainian friends”.
It was also reported that the UK is working with the Netherlands to form an “international coalition to provide Ukraine with combat air capabilities, supporting everything from training to the purchase of F-16 fighter jets”. Ukrainians have repeatedly asked for Western fighter jets, as their fleet of former Soviet MiG-29s and Su-27s is suffering from combat exhaustion.
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