Air Warfare

Ukrainian pilots could finish F-16 training in 3-9 months, ANG chief says

Air National Guard Director Lt. Gen. Michael Loh called the F-16s a potential “gamechanger" for Ukraine, but said the timeline for pilots depends mostly on experience levels.

By Michael Marrow on September 12, 2023 3:12 pm
DENMARK-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT-POLITICS-SECURITY
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (R) react as they sit in a F-16 fighter jet in the hangar of the Skrydstrup Airbase in Vojens, northern Denmark, on August 20, 2023. (Mads Claus Rasmussen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP)

AFA 2023 — Ukrainian pilots hoping to defend their skies with the F-16 Fighting Falcon could complete their US-based training within three to nine months, the director of the Air National Guard (ANG) said today.

Speaking to reporters at the Air & Space Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber conference, Lt. Gen. Michael Loh said that some Ukrainian pilots who will soon arrive at Morris Air National Guard base in Tucson, Arizona could complete the course in as little as three months, though less experienced pilots would need longer. 

“They’ll take anywhere from — depending on their level of proficiency in fighters and how much they have — anywhere from three months to up to as long as nine months at Tucson to get ready,” he said at the conference here in National Harbor, Md.

An ANG report on the training of two Ukrainian pilots that leaked this summer estimated that Ukrainian airmen could only need four months to finish training in the Lockheed Martin-made F-16, putting pressure on the Biden administration to approve transfers of the fighter. Loh said today that those two pilots, whose performance informed the Guard’s assessment, were on the more experienced side and had decent English skills. Those without language or flying prowess will take closer to his nine month estimate, he said, which is the standard timeline for any regular candidate. 

“For the ones that are currently their fighter pilot cadre that are experienced, that are flying day-to-day sorties over there, that are defending their homeland — I think three months is absolutely realistic,” he said.

But completing the training doesn’t mean the jets can be employed by Ukrainian pilots immediately, Loh emphasized. Pilots will leave the US and fly some more in Europe before entering Ukraine, at which time commanders will make a decision on whether they’re ready. Logistics support, as well as trained maintainers, also need to be in place, a timeline that Loh said would be better answered by officials from US European Command.

In August, the Biden administration greenlit F-16 donations from other countries, though officials have since warned getting the jets ready will take time — precluding the F-16s from joining Ukraine’s sluggish counteroffensive this year. Ukrainian military leaders reportedly anticipate some pilots could be ready to fight by February 2024, a timeline that would seem to align with Loh’s estimates.

Loh said the course at Morris will consist of three training phases: ground, simulator and flight. Asked whether Ukrainians will learn how to employ weapons like AMRAAM, he replied that “we will train them to do the full multi-role spectrum of what we can expect in their theater of conflict.”

Ukrainians will also receive priority training, Loh said, likely meaning some other foreign and domestic pilots looking to learn how to fly the jet might be bumped back in the queue. 

While some officials have downplayed how much of a difference the jets could make in the war in Ukraine, Loh took a far more optimistic view of their capabilities, stating that “I think it can definitely be a game changer.”

Already, some 50 jets are lined up to be donated to Ukraine, a quantity that Loh said would have an impact. (Some reports have said Ukraine could get more than 60 of the fighters, though some will be used for training.)

“That’s a good three fighter squadrons worth,” he observed. “I think it is enough.”

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