Jake Sullivan, outgoing US National Security Advisor, in comments made public on Sunday claimed the main reason the Ukrainian Air Force has so few US-made F-16 fighter in combat operations, is that the Ukrainian military doesn’t have enough pilots for training on the fighter aircraft.
Sullivan’s statement made during an interview with the Reagan National Defense Forum sharply contrasted with comment by Ukrainian officials, among them President Volodymyr Zelensky, that Ukraine had dozens of seasoned combat pilots ready to receive cross-training in the American fighter, but only a few of them are able to be trained at a time, because almost all US Air Force F-16 fighter transition training slots are filled.
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Sullivan’s comments may well have been inaccurate, but hard determination of that depends on how suitable prospective Ukrainian F-16 pilots are for US transition training – a definition that has shifted over time, Kyiv Post researchers found.
The F-16 is a US-manufactured multi-role fighter aircraft and one of the most successful combat aircraft of the Cold War and post-Cold War eras. Three European F-16 operators have promised aircraft to Ukraine: Denmark (19), Netherlands (24) and Norway (22). The first six planes, from Denmark, reached Ukraine in August.
“When it comes to F-16s, President Biden authorized the sending of F-16s to Ukraine last May. It’s now December 2024 and we’ve had a limited number of pilots trained. Not because we’re not prepared to train them, we are. As many as possible. But because the Ukrainians do not have the pilots to be able to build the full F-16 capability in time,” Sullivan said. He went on to say he is “damn proud” of US support to Ukraine’s military.
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Sullivan’s comments contradicted news reports originating in the US in June 2024 that Ukraine had 30 experienced fighter pilots ready to travel to the US for transition training in the F-16. Spokespersons for the Arizona-based US Air Force unit responsible for training foreign pilots in the aircraft said they lacked the capacity to train many more pilots without the US government altering its commitments to other allies.
The US news platform Politico cited a spokesperson for that unit, the 162nd Wing in Tucson, as saying the unit could only train 30 pilots at any one time, that almost all training slots were filled by pilots from other countries operating the F-16, and that the 162nd had no capability to surge training output.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a July 15 press conference told Kyiv reporters that he was grateful for US assistance in material, training and logistical support needed to operate F-16 fighters to defend Ukrainian airspace, but, that Kyiv has more pilots than America can train quickly.
“We have pilots. As you [the Verkhovna Rada TV reporter asking the question] know, it’s not possible to withdraw all or most of our combat pilots from combat, because they’re fighting. At the moment, the most important thing is to defend our sky. There is a part of our pilots who are training and undergoing, unfortunately long-term training… We need to shorten the training time for F-16s, and we need an expansion of the F-16 training base. We need an acceleration of the aircraft deployed immediately, and not in three, four or five years.”
On Aug. 12, Zelensky appeared to signal his country’s Air Force must look elsewhere than conventional training tracks to find pilots to fly donated F-16s. In meetings with Senators Richard Blumenthal and Lindsey Graham in Kyiv, the Ukrainian leader discussed the possible hire of foreign pilots to fly some of the F-16s Ukraine was on track to receive, along with ground crew to maintain the aircraft. because enough Ukrainian pilots to fly the aircraft can’t be trained quickly enough, a joint statement released by Blumenthal’s and Graham’s office said.
“President Zelensky told us both that he would be looking to supplement his Air Force by establishing a program to [commission] retired NATO F-16 fighter pilots. We support this effort. Ukraine is already fielding units of freedom fighters on the ground, and this volunteer force should be replicated in the air.”
In October, according to the Wall Street Journal, US Air Force training planners had decided against expanding transition training capacity for experienced Ukrainian pilots to learn to fly F-16s, because most otherwise suitable Ukrainian pilots speak insufficient English for the training without several months to over a year of additional delay while attending the US Defense Language Institute (DLI) in San Antonio, TX.
US support in coming months and years to Ukraine’s F-16 pilot training program will focus not on seasoned pilots but newly inducted cadets who will undergo a year of foundational flight training in the UK and France before moving on to F-16-specific courses in the US and Romania, the article said.
Of the six F-16s sent Ukraine by Denmark, one has been lost in combat, along with its pilot, on Aug. 29.
Kyiv and Copenhagen on Saturday confirmed the delivery of a second aircraft batch to Ukraine, without stating the number of jets. In January Danish officials said Copenhagen plans to turn over a total 19 F-16s to Ukraine in three batches.
Ukrainian milblogger reports over the weekend mostly estimated the number of aircraft delivered in the second batch at six F-16s, putting the total number of F-16s currently under Ukrainian Air Force command at 11 fighters.
Ukraine’s Air Force usually is accounted ten or fifteen times smaller than its powerful opponent, the Russian Air Force. According to published Ukrainian military statistics, on a typical day of flight operations the Russian Air Force launches about 150 aircraft with missions in Ukrainian airspace, and another 30-50 aircraft with support missions in Russian or international airspace.
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