The aircraft will arrive in tranches, they said. The schoolhouse in Arizona is able to train only 12 pilots at a time. They stressed the need to gradually ramp up the program to ensure Ukraine can operate and maintain the aircraft, including pilots, maintainers, and the infrastructure to support them.
But a second senior DOD official also pushed back on Kyiv’s claim that the training program is too limited. Western officials want to avoid graduating too many pilots before Ukraine has received enough jets for them to continue training on, the official explained to reporters on the plane to Brussels. If pilots do not get enough flying hours, their skills begin to atrophy.
Kyiv began asking for the U.S.-made F-16s shortly after the invasion, but President Joe Biden was reluctant to give the green light. Finally last year he approved the third-party transfer of aircraft from Norway, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands, but the training program has been plagued by logistical challenges.
F-16 innføringen går offisielt tregt fordi et skolehus drevet av nasjonalgarden (USA svar på heimevernet) har kapasitets-og logistikkutfordringer med å trene ett dusin piloter og støttemannskaper.