After President Joe Biden reversed course in May and said he would make U.S.-made F-16 Fighting Falcon jets available to Ukraine for its war against Russia, Kyiv was hoping it could have its pilots trained and the jets would be made available by September.
But after repeated delays to the start of training pilots in Europe, The Washington Post reported Friday that Ukraine will have to wait another year before it can gain possession of the aircraft, which Kyiv needs to provide a significant military edge amid a slowed counteroffensive and to better protect civilians against Russian missile and drone strikes.
The Post, citing Ukrainian government and military officials, reported the first group of six Ukrainian fighter pilots is not expected to complete training on the F-16 before next summer.
Biden supported a European initiative led by Denmark and the Netherlands to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the jets, which would be supplied by third-party countries in Europe. But the Post reported, citing a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Biden administration is for the first time willing to train the pilots on American soil, should Europe prove insufficient to meet Ukrainian demand.
The start of the first round of combat training for the six pilots — about half a squadron — is now set for January and expected to last six months, the Post reported. Although the pilots are fluent in English, Ukrainian officials said they must first attend four months of English lessons in Britain to learn terminology associated with the jets.
That instruction will occur along with ground staff who might be less proficient in English because, according to two Ukrainian officials, Denmark asked to train entire crews together rather than just the pilots first. Denmark's ministry of defense declined to comment, the Post reported.
U.S. officials said most of Ukraine's best pilots are expected to remain in country, where they are flying sorties in Soviet-developed planes and firing French SCALP and British Storm Shadow missiles.
Brig. Gen. Serhii Holubtsov, aviation chief for Ukraine's air force, told the Post that, in between their sorties, Ukrainian pilots have been taking English classes online for the past year.
"Additional specialized training will be provided to flight and ground personnel on the terminology required for the F-16 training," Holubtsov said. "It was not possible to train pilots and other personnel in Ukraine in this terminology due to the lack of experience in working with such terminology."
The F-16, which is in its fourth generation of production, was first delivered to the Air Force in 1978. More than 3,000 are operational in 29 countries across the globe, according to manufacturer Lockheed Martin.