I knew this would surface again as the F16s are about to come into play. About mid 2022 a group of retired USA pilots from Florida proposed assembling a squadron ….
Let’s be honest, I don’t see this happening. Pilots are way too valuable, and the skies at the frontline are too dangerous for foreign pilots to volunteer or especially for other countries to send their pilots.
Seems like a fantastic idea due to massive savings in training costs. I think more importantly would be getting maintanence personel to join.
Help analyze big time, and just feed that link 16 constantly and send plenty of the good stuff for the planes. That’s what is needed.
Odds? 0.0% for active duty pilots. 5% for some retired guys.
Flying Tigers 2.0 please!
Problem is Wester pilots have never operated in such a dangerous and missile rich environment with no clear air superiority
All of them I hope
They are on vacation and you can buy F-16s at any military surplus store
If you think of ww2 England there were tons of foreign pilots flying for them for a huge variety of reasons, Czechs taken over, American wanting fight etc. not an unprecedented idea that Ukraine could have an influx of experienced guys.
I don’t think the US government would like to see a shot down American pilot in Russian captivity.
With so many systems integrated into the F16 wouldn’t language be a problem?
It looks like a no-brainer for western pilots to do it. Yes, it is much more dangerous than fighting Ewoks and goat herders in Yemen or whatever but if they want to pop their real combat cherry they would do it (and not just hit air balloons once in a while).
I don’t know how many joined air force with expectation that they would see real action but there should be at least a few. And add some volunteers from support personnel and voila!— Just some friends with planes vacationing in Ukraine)
Flying Tigers
Ukraine can freely give citizenship to whoever they want.
Russian pilots fought against the UN during Korean ear, the US during Vietnam and Israel.
Once the endogenous support structures are in place within the Ukrainian Air Force, I wouldn’t be surprised if a decent number of experienced F-16 pilots showed up and asked to enlist. The Ukrainian language barrier might be less of an issue for pilots than for other relevant enlisted personnel such as technicians or other support staff.
Iirc some kind of permission is usually required by retired military pilots if they want to fly for another nation. But in this case that permission might not be so hard to acquire.
Send fuckin’ Maverick.
Why? To get your ass shot off by an S-400? No thanks. The F-16 is a great aircraft, but there is no air superiority and there won’t be. The F-16 is no match for the S-300 or S-400 system. Especially with the equipment the F-16s have that we are giving Ukraine. They are dated and we’re getting decommissioned from countries anyways. No match.
22 comments
I knew this would surface again as the F16s are about to come into play. About mid 2022 a group of retired USA pilots from Florida proposed assembling a squadron ….
Let’s be honest, I don’t see this happening. Pilots are way too valuable, and the skies at the frontline are too dangerous for foreign pilots to volunteer or especially for other countries to send their pilots.
Seems like a fantastic idea due to massive savings in training costs. I think more importantly would be getting maintanence personel to join.
Help analyze big time, and just feed that link 16 constantly and send plenty of the good stuff for the planes. That’s what is needed.
Odds? 0.0% for active duty pilots. 5% for some retired guys.
Flying Tigers 2.0 please!
Problem is Wester pilots have never operated in such a dangerous and missile rich environment with no clear air superiority
All of them I hope
They are on vacation and you can buy F-16s at any military surplus store
If you think of ww2 England there were tons of foreign pilots flying for them for a huge variety of reasons, Czechs taken over, American wanting fight etc. not an unprecedented idea that Ukraine could have an influx of experienced guys.
I don’t think the US government would like to see a shot down American pilot in Russian captivity.
With so many systems integrated into the F16 wouldn’t language be a problem?
It looks like a no-brainer for western pilots to do it. Yes, it is much more dangerous than fighting Ewoks and goat herders in Yemen or whatever but if they want to pop their real combat cherry they would do it (and not just hit air balloons once in a while).
I don’t know how many joined air force with expectation that they would see real action but there should be at least a few. And add some volunteers from support personnel and voila!— Just some friends with planes vacationing in Ukraine)
Flying Tigers
Ukraine can freely give citizenship to whoever they want.
Russian pilots fought against the UN during Korean ear, the US during Vietnam and Israel.
Once the endogenous support structures are in place within the Ukrainian Air Force, I wouldn’t be surprised if a decent number of experienced F-16 pilots showed up and asked to enlist. The Ukrainian language barrier might be less of an issue for pilots than for other relevant enlisted personnel such as technicians or other support staff.
Iirc some kind of permission is usually required by retired military pilots if they want to fly for another nation. But in this case that permission might not be so hard to acquire.
Send fuckin’ Maverick.
Why? To get your ass shot off by an S-400? No thanks. The F-16 is a great aircraft, but there is no air superiority and there won’t be. The F-16 is no match for the S-300 or S-400 system. Especially with the equipment the F-16s have that we are giving Ukraine. They are dated and we’re getting decommissioned from countries anyways. No match.
This is the way to go.
You mean temporary Ukrainian dual citizens?
Without [SEAD](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppression_of_Enemy_Air_Defenses), that would be a guaranteed instant suicide mission.