![]() ![]() Should the Ukrainians do so, they’d have a convenient option in contract adversary services company, Top Aces. Ukraine could arguably take the same route if necessary, suggesting Russia to complain to its Chinese friends. The country basically shrugged off criticism of its use of for-hire private adversary pilots to gain insight into Western fighters, tactics and combined arms doctrine. Late last year, reports of Chinese recruitment of Western pilots to train with the PLA Air Force made headlines. officialdom would be to have them trained by one or more of the many private “Red Air” adversary companies now in business.Ĭhina has already set an uncomfortable precedent for this. One potentially overlooked (or at least not publicly discussed) option for training Ukrainian pilots that would at least provide (tenuous) semantic distance for U.S. F-16s bound for Romania from the depot center in Kjeller, Norway, could be diverted to USAF trainers there and potentially sent on to Ukraine with trained-up Ukrainian pilots. In 2019, Lockheed Martin LMT and Norway agreed to jointly form the first F-16 “Falcon Depot” center in the country to support the global F-16 fleet. In addition, Romania agreed last year to purchase 32 used F-16s from Norway. Sending a 162nd mobile training team there to train Ukrainian pilots may also be logistically workable. Air Force is already operating F-16s in an air-policing role from Mihail Kogalniceanu military base in the eastern part of the country. NATO-member Romania operates older F-16s and the U.S. ![]() That does not mean it can be ruled out, though the issue of training Ukrainian pilots remains. As with a previous push to transfer Polish Mig-29s to Ukraine, NATO and the U.S. In late January, Ukraine claimed that the Polish government was receptive to supplying it with F-16s, acting as a conduit for airplanes from other sources or possibly older aircraft from its own fleet. In all likelihood, Ukrainian forces members have already undergone training by American armed forces on a variety of undisclosed weapons systems in Poland though this has not been formally confirmed. The possibility of training Ukrainian pilots in neighboring Poland was raised early on in 2022, as was the possibility of training Ukrainian forces on other weapons systems. The 162nd’s mobile training teams have conducted classes in numerous countries around the world including Poland.į-16's from the Polish Air Force's 32nd Tactical Air Wing leave Łask Air Base, Poland. It also conducts training in individual client nations. But the Wing does not simply host foreign students in Tucson. Polish Air Force aircrews and maintenance technicians began training with the 162nd starting in 2004. ![]() The list includes Poland, which acquired F-16s in 2006. In the decades that have followed the 162nd has trained the majority of foreign F-16 aircrews from European to Asian operators. international training unit for the Viper. As far back as the late 1980s, the Wing hosted and trained Dutch air force pilots to fly the F-16 and by the mid 1990s, it was the designated U.S. The Ukrainians’ visit to the 162nd Wing already shows us the most obvious route. will, sooner or later, provide F-16s, how would Ukrainian pilots and ground crews train to operate them? and I think eventually we’ll get to F-16s.” Speaking on CNN on Monday, he said, “Many people are chasing the F-16. (Ret) Mike Mullen, who served as Joint Chiefs Chairman under President Obama. While administration officials and some in Congress minimize the possibility of Ukraine-bound F-16s, other well-connected voices are striking a different note including Adm. The best-case scenario he said is that “we could maybe get some operational F-16s into Ukraine within a year, maybe eight months if we really pushed it.” That logic doesn’t seem to matter for Abrams tanks which Army Secretary Christine Wormuth recently said may not be shipped to Ukraine by the end of the year or by the beginning of 2024. ![]()
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