2 Ukrainian pilots are in U.S. to determine fighter jet skills
“This system entails watching how Ukrainian pilots conduct their mission planning and execution in flight simulators in order to determine how we are able to higher advise the Ukrainian Air Drive,” the U.S. official stated.
A Protection Division official and one other particular person accustomed to this system stated the goal is to consider how lengthy it should take Ukrainian pilots to study to fly fashionable fighter plane, together with F-16s. This system was supposed to start late final 12 months, however was delayed, the folks stated.
The pilots have been on the base for per week and can keep for at the least another week. A Protection Division spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The information, first reported by NBC News, comes as high Biden administration officers repeatedly bat down the concept of sending the jets anytime quickly.
“F-16s are a query for a later time,” nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan stated throughout a current interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And that’s why President Biden stated that, for now, he’s not transferring ahead with these.”
Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s high coverage official, informed the Home Armed Providers Committee final week that the U.S. has not began coaching Ukrainians on F-16s, and that the timeline for delivering the plane is estimated at 18 months.
“Since we haven’t made the choice to present F-16s and neither have our allies and companions, it doesn’t make sense to begin to prepare them on a system they could by no means get,” Kahl stated.
The choice to convey Ukrainian pilots over to the U.S. for an evaluation doesn’t change the considering on whether or not to present F-16s to Kyiv, the U.S. official stated.
