Slouching Toward Bethlehem

The United States Air Force U.S. has begun training Ukrainian pilots to fly General Dynamics’s F-16 multirole fighter. Controversial in the utmost, the training was heralded by USAF Brigadier General Pat Ryder, who stated on 24 August 2023 that U.S. training of Ukrainian aviators would commence “within two months.”

Ryder’s assertion missed the mark by only 24-hours.

While Ryder cited no specific numbers, he set forth Ukrainian pilot and maintenance trainees would number “several” and “dozens” respectively.

The training is being carried out at Tucson, Arizona’s Morris Air National Guard Base under the auspices of the Air National Guard’s 162nd Wing.

Historically tasked with training foreign pilots to operate the fourth-generation F-16 Falcon platform, the 162nd Wing has, to date, schooled pilots hailing from 25 nations.

To the subject of the 162nd Wing’s training acumen, USAF Lieutenant General Michael A. Loh somewhat inarticulately remarked: “They’re very intimately familiar on how we do training of foreign military pilots.”

In September, the Ukrainian pilot trainees received English language tutorials at San Antonio, Texas’s Lackland Air Force Base.

Morris Air National Guard Base occupies the northwest quadrant of the Tucson International Airport (TUS) and shares facilities, to include runways, with such. Three of the Wing’s fighter squadrons—the 148th, 152nd, and 195th—operate the F-16.

A USAF official formerly stated pilots lacking previous fighter-jet experience could likely complete the service’s standard F-16 qualification course in approximately eight-months. Conversely, experienced fighter pilots, via the USAF’s transition qualification track—could be taught to proficiently fly the F-16 in five-months—more or less.

As the experience and proficiency of the Ukrainian pilots is unknown, details pertaining to their flight-training curriculum to include the organization and duration thereof, remain uncertain. U.S. officials have indicated, however, that the curriculum by which the Ukrainian pilots are to be trained is likely to deviate significantly from the standard model.

Lieutenant General Loh stated: “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. We will train them to do the full multirole spectrum of what we can expect in their theory of conflict.”

Retired USAF Lieutenant General David A. Deptula, a former F-16 pilot, and sitting dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, opined: “One of the reasons why the F-16 is such a good match for the Ukrainian Air Force is because of the multiple roles that it can conduct. It can perform air-to-air combat, which is a role that is critical in providing air defense for the cities and military areas that require protection from Russian attack in Ukraine.”

On Friday, 18 August 2023, the U.S. State Department authorized Denmark and the Netherlands to export American-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. In addition to foreshadowing escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, the decision fomented increased geopolitical tensions and stoked the glowing embers of world war.

All told, up to 61 Dutch and Danish F-16s could eventually enter Ukrainian service. The Netherlands, according to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, currently has 42 F-16s available for transfer; the government of Denmark stated in August that it would send 19 F-16s to Ukraine. Moreover, the Danish military disclosed it was (then) training eight Ukrainian pilots and 65 Ukrainian technical personnel to fly and maintain the F-16.

Greece and Norway, too, have agreed to supply Ukraine with either fighter jets or pilot training.

In May 2023, Joe Biden stated he was in favor of Ukraine’s receipt of U.S. warplanes. U.S. leaders, while refusing to directly provide Ukraine combat aircraft, have wholeheartedly supported the notion of third-party NATO states provisioning Ukraine with meaningful numbers of F-16s. 

Senator Rand Paul (Republican, Kentucky) warned the Russo-Ukrainian conflict could easily ignite a larger conflict, stating: “I, like most people … don’t want to have U.S. troops directly involved and will do everything to oppose that. There’s always a danger of escalating it. The main thing is that we need to be very conscious that rational, sound voices are thinking through what we do before we do it.

Senator Paul added: “I would say the rhetoric on television and amongst a lot of members of Congress is overly-emotional and not soundly reasoned and thoughtful. That’s what you require if you don’t want to get into a world war.”  

The USAF has operated General Dynamics’s F-16 Fighting Falcon for upwards of forty-years. The aircraft is capable of carrying a wide variety of munitions, the more potent of which include the AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile and the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAM). The aircraft—by dint of its single Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 afterburning turbofan engine—boasts a maximum speed of Mach 2.05 (1,366.8-knots), a combat range of 295-nautical-miles, a ferry-range of 2,277-nautical-miles, and a service-ceiling of FL500. In addition to the antecedent missile systems and a formidable collection of rockets, bombs, and targeting pods, the F-16 sports a single 20-millimeter M61A1 Vulcan six-barrel rotary-cannon.

FMI: www.af.mil