*The New York Times noted that Ukrainian pilots were currently waiting for fighter jets and pilot instructors at a new training centre at the Fătesti airbase in southern Romania, which is to play a crucial role in training Ukrainians.*
*In addition, several officials said that there remained a lot of uncertainty about when each country will send its planes, how many Ukraine will receive, how quickly the pilots can be trained and the number of people who can properly maintain the fighters:*
>*Twelve pilots so far — fewer than a full squadron — are expected to be ready to fly F-16s in combat by this summer after 10 months of training in Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States.*
>*But by the time the pilots return to Ukraine, as few as six F-16s will have been delivered out of about 45 of the fighter jets that European allies have promised.*
*The NYT emphasised that the training of Ukrainian pilots on modern Western aircraft is lightning fast, compressing years of training into a few months.*
Disappointingly small number. It will help in defending cities from bombings, but it is absolutely insufficient for any offensive, even a tactical one.
Year ago I would think that maybe the cunning and well-resourced NATO is preparing a disguise operation, and that these twelve are just covering a few hundreds. But today I see that NATO is neither cunning nor well-resourced.
It’s a shame that for whatever reason Ukraine isn’t sending more pilots to be trained. As the article says, the instructors and jets are waiting
I can only hope that the next 50 are baing trained as we speak.
Russia, get ready to be blown to hell! July is when the tide of the war swings decidedly in favor of Ukraine!
Waiting for another excuse in July……
nothing is real untill it shows up!
(1) Why are they announcing this in advance? (2) Why is this taking so long? (3) why so few?
Do you really believe that actual number of pilots is going to be announced?
Absurd…
I hope they keep these pilots anonymous
Since they are talking about “troops on the ground”, why not send our own F-16’s with our own pilots? Would make more sense than troops on the ground.
Well i think the positive take away is that pilots will start trickling in rapidly after the first 12.
Probably be close to 20 by end of summer.
12 comments
Iryna Balachuk covers a development first reported by [the Gray Lady](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/world/europe/ukraine-f16-pilots.html):
*The New York Times noted that Ukrainian pilots were currently waiting for fighter jets and pilot instructors at a new training centre at the Fătesti airbase in southern Romania, which is to play a crucial role in training Ukrainians.*
*In addition, several officials said that there remained a lot of uncertainty about when each country will send its planes, how many Ukraine will receive, how quickly the pilots can be trained and the number of people who can properly maintain the fighters:*
>*Twelve pilots so far — fewer than a full squadron — are expected to be ready to fly F-16s in combat by this summer after 10 months of training in Denmark, the United Kingdom and the United States.*
>*But by the time the pilots return to Ukraine, as few as six F-16s will have been delivered out of about 45 of the fighter jets that European allies have promised.*
*The NYT emphasised that the training of Ukrainian pilots on modern Western aircraft is lightning fast, compressing years of training into a few months.*
Disappointingly small number. It will help in defending cities from bombings, but it is absolutely insufficient for any offensive, even a tactical one.
Year ago I would think that maybe the cunning and well-resourced NATO is preparing a disguise operation, and that these twelve are just covering a few hundreds. But today I see that NATO is neither cunning nor well-resourced.
It’s a shame that for whatever reason Ukraine isn’t sending more pilots to be trained. As the article says, the instructors and jets are waiting
I can only hope that the next 50 are baing trained as we speak.
Russia, get ready to be blown to hell! July is when the tide of the war swings decidedly in favor of Ukraine!
Waiting for another excuse in July……
nothing is real untill it shows up!
(1) Why are they announcing this in advance? (2) Why is this taking so long? (3) why so few?
Do you really believe that actual number of pilots is going to be announced?
Absurd…
I hope they keep these pilots anonymous
Since they are talking about “troops on the ground”, why not send our own F-16’s with our own pilots? Would make more sense than troops on the ground.
Well i think the positive take away is that pilots will start trickling in rapidly after the first 12.
Probably be close to 20 by end of summer.