The new direction is the result of the lack of experienced Ukrainian pilots with requisite English-language abilities who can be spared from the battlefield, U.S. officials said. Some officials also said that the U.S. believes younger cadets would be more open to Western-style instruction.
The U.S. government has reportedly assured authorities in Denmark and the Netherlands that it will expedite approval of any requests they submit to transfer F-16 Viper fighters to Ukraine. When the Ukrainian Air Force might actually get any of those jets is still unclear amid uncertainty that has been brewing about the multi-national program to train the country’s pilots to fly them and support personnel to maintain them.
Speaking in June, Russian President Vladimir Putin predicted that F-16s “will burn” just like the Western tanks supplied to Kiev, and said that Russia will find ways to strike at sites outside Ukraine if the jets end up being based there. Operating the F-16 requires pristine runways, which Ukraine does not possess.
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