- The Netherlands has presented a plan to coach Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighters.
- NATO can also be within the technique of scrounging up F-16s from its member states, a 3rd of which fly the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
- The method was made possible after the Biden Administration gave its blessing to send the jets, which use American tech.
The Netherlands and Denmark will lead an effort to coach Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets. Ukraine will likely receive donated F-16s from quite a lot of NATO countries, particularly those within the technique of switching to latest F-35 Lightning II fighters. The method was finally greenlit by the U.S. government after greater than a yr of lobbying for contemporary fighter jets by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Jet Migration
The Netherlands, Breaking Defense reports, has generated a three-step training program to coach Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16 multi-role fighter jet. This system consists of conversion training, meant to migrate the pilots from Soviet to NATO-type aircraft, followed by language training and initial flight training, after which further training at a brand new training center in an “eastern NATO member” country. A recent Air Force evaluation predicted it could take existing Ukrainian fighter pilots 4 to six months to learn to fly the F-16.
The training program steps suggest the Netherlands and Denmark, program assistant and fellow NATO F-16 operator, will train existing Ukrainian Air Force pilots. These pilots may have to re-learn methods to fly with western aircraft, which have very different design philosophies than Soviet gear reminiscent of the MiG-29. These differences run the gamut from where buttons and switches are situated to how procedures for air combat are wired into the plane’s flight controls, reminiscent of how a F-16 achieves radar lock on an aerial goal and the procedures to fireside a missile.
The most important obstacle for the pilots could be linguistic. The pilots will likely learn to talk English, considered one of the 2 lingua francas (the opposite is French) of NATO and the aviation world. Unfortunately, Ukraine is considered one of the least English-proficient countries in Europe, rating 28 out of the 32 European countries.
A Pressing Need
Ukraine’s Air Force has taken severe losses within the last 16 months of war. Flight International’s 2022 World Air Forces directory tallied 43 Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jets before the war; the Oryx blog counts 19 as destroyed. Of the 26 Su-27 heavy fighters detected before the war, at the least twelve have been shot down. Ukraine’s fighters are also typically at the least 30 years old and have received few, if any, electronic upgrades. Ukraine has received donated MiG-29s and spare parts from Poland and other former Warsaw Pact countries, however the variety of aircraft still in operation is a closely guarded secret.
The F-16 fighter jet will likely be a marked improvement upon Ukraine’s remaining Su-27s and MiG-29s. The primary tranche of F-16s will likely be sourced from the Netherlands. In line with Aviation Week & Space Technology, the Royal Netherlands Air Force has 34 F-16AM/BM Mid-Life Update (MLU) fighters ready for transfer. The F-16 AM/BM MLU is an earlier model F-16 that underwent an upgrade process that included a brand new AN/APG-66(V2) radar system, a brand new computer system, a modernized multifunction display and heads-up display, GPS, and an information modem compatible with the US/NATO Link 16 encrypted data sharing system.
The F-16 AM/BM MLU will likely be competitive with most Russian fighters within the region, aside from the newer Su-35 “Flanker-E”.
While air-to-air fighter combat was common within the early days of the war, the ground-based air defenses of either side at the moment are firmly entrenched, making flying near the front line dangerous. Ukrainian F-16s would likely use their F-16s to shoot down incoming Russian drones and cruise missiles. The AN/APG-66 radars are able to detecting low-altitude targets at ranges of as much as 51 miles, tracking as much as 10 targets, and fascinating six individual targets with AMRAAM radar-guided missiles. One other mission might be to launch HARM anti-radar missiles at Russian air defense radars, or drop JDAM GPS-guided bombs in support of troops on the front line, all while safely inside Ukrainian airspace.
The delayed introduction of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has proven an unanticipated boon to Ukraine. The F-35A, years late, has air forces only now retiring their F-16 fleets—just in time for Ukraine to take the reins. The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and Poland are all replacing their F-16s with F-35s, an effort that may likely unlock a pair hundred jets for transfer. Had the F-35 not been delayed, the 34 jets the Netherlands is able to donate to Ukraine might well have been sold to overseas buyers already.
The Takeaway
F-16 fighters will likely be an enormous upgrade for Ukraine’s air force. The Netherlands wants to begin training this summer, so the planes needs to be ready by winter, just when Russia will probably try and attack Ukraine’s energy grid again. F-16s aren’t a wonder weapon that may win the war, but they may help friendly troops fighting on the front lines, decimate Russia’s air defense network, and stop civilians from freezing within the winter—and that’s a goal price everyone’s time.