Biden tells G7 allies the US will support joint F-16 training effort for Ukrainians
Source: CNN
President Joe Biden informed G7 leaders on Friday that the US will support a joint effort with allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth generation aircraft, including F-16s, a senior administration official tells CNN.
The training is not expected to happen in the US, the official said, and will likely happen entirely in Europe. But US personnel will participate in the training alongside allies and partners in Europe, the official said. It is expected to take several months to complete and the official said the hope is it will begin in the coming weeks.
The decision marks a stark turnaround for Biden, who said earlier this year that he did not believe that Ukraine needed the F-16s. The decision to support the training initiative came together very quickly, officials said, and was made by Biden following meetings with G7 leaders in Hiroshima, Japan, where the topic of F-16s to Ukraine was a key point of discussion. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been pushing particularly hard in recent days for countries that have the jets in their stockpile to send them to Ukraine so that the country can better defend itself against Russias daily aerial attacks.
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In March, the US hosted two Ukrainian pilots at a military base in Tucson, Arizona, to evaluate their skills using flight simulators and to assess how much time they would need to learn to fly various US military aircraft, including F-16s. Congress set aside money in the 2023 budget for such training.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/19/politics/biden-g7-f-16-ukraine/index.html
KS Toronado
(17,352 posts)right after Russia invaded Ukraine, still believe the A10 Warthog would come in handy over there.
Kennah
(14,322 posts)FredGarvin
(485 posts)Works like a charm every time.
I envision Russian forces getting eaten up by this beast. And soon.
Kennah
(14,322 posts)GregariousGroundhog
(7,526 posts)The Pentagon testified to Congress a couple weeks back that western fighters were ranked as 8th on the list of needs, behind other things like ground based air defense, artillery, and motorized/mechanized vehicles.
I suspect the Netherlands will probably provide some of their 24 F-16s to Ukraine. Norway has 57 F-16s, and they retired the last of them last year. Poland has 48 F-16s that they are replacing with F-35s, it wouldn't surprise me if they sent some of their planes to Ukraine. Czechia, Greece and Turkey also use the F-16, though they don't come to mind as potential donors.
Poland operates the F-16 C and D model, Norway operated the A and B model. I couldn't find which model Netherlands operates. Greece and Czechia fly the F-16 V model. I'm curious how much work it would be to retrofit airframes to later models and if the United States will offer to do it.