Accelerated and almost tailor-made training. This is how the air combat learning course is taking place for the first four Ukrainian pilots who arrived in France at the beginning of March, on a base in the South-West, we learned 20 minutes from a source close to the case.
Six other Ukrainian pilots, currently in Great Britain, will join their comrades on this air base in the coming weeks, to in turn complete the flight hours on Alphajet, before piloting the famous American F-16s which must soon be delivered by European allies to Ukraine. Here’s what you need to know about this training.
Why are ten Ukrainian pilots trained in France?
After European countries promised to deliver a minimum of 45 F-16 fighters to Ukraine, other Western countries wanted to make their contribution by taking charge of training Ukrainian pilots. Twelve went to train directly in the United States, and ten others are trained in Europe.
For the latter, the course started in Great Britain. The first four pilots completed this first phase, which consisted of nearly six months of English language training and basic piloting. France is responsible for the second part – the so-called intermediate phase – which started at the beginning of March for a duration of around six months. This involves teaching these pilots the fundamentals of air combat, namely air-to-air combat and air-to-ground combat (bombardment, air support), on Alphajet. Once these fundamentals have been acquired, they will leave for another destination, certainly the Fetesti base in Romania, for the last part of the course, training on F-16, which should last another four months.
Why is the training carried out on Alphajet?
Because the training of French fighter pilots is now carried out on PC21. As the Alphajet is at the end of its life – it is still used by the Patrouille de France and for training missions – the mobilization of this aircraft makes it possible to train Ukrainian pilots without impacting that of the French.
Why did only four pilots start training in France?
Because the level of these young Ukrainian pilots, aged between 21 and 23, varies. Four of them already had experience with a dozen flights on the L-39, a Czech trainer. The other six, described as very good, are nevertheless more novices, and their training to acquire ease in flight, the sense of the air, is longer.
How does training take place at this South-West air base?
The pilots are supported by active and reserve instructors from the Air and Space Force, as well as an F-16 pilot from a foreign country. The training offers around fifty simulator hours and around 80 flight hours for each trainee. The trainers cover a very broad spectrum, because the F-16s are multirole fighter planes, capable of carrying out air defense and ground attack. Students are evaluated on a certain number of criteria: initiative, flight safety, achievement of objectives – with for example evolution at low altitude in a simple, complex and very complex tactical framework (with ground systems -air and/or air-to-air threats).
This is tailor-made training, we even speak of goldsmith work, almost twice as fast as the training of a French fighter pilot. The objective is in fact to release these pilots as quickly as possible, to deploy them in the Ukrainian theater within a year, perhaps less. To do this, instructors can free themselves from a certain number of rules (such as learning to fly in a segregated airspace, that is to say with airliners). The young Ukrainian pilots, described as extremely motivated, work hard every day, weekend and public holidays.
Can the F-16s represent a “game changer” in the war in Ukraine?
The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has been asking for reinforcements in fighter aviation almost since the start of the conflict. Until now, it had only obtained Soviet-designed Mig-29s from Poland and Slovakia. Agreements in July 2023 with the United States led to the promise of delivery from European allies (Belgium, Norway and especially the Netherlands and Denmark) of 45 F-16s to Ukraine. But this delivery, which was to start at the end of 2023, is taking time, and should only finally begin in July 2024, when the first Ukrainian pilots trained in the United States will have completed their course.
However, a few F-16s will not change the situation in the conflict, assures an air combat specialist, even if the arrival of these modern combat aircraft may create doubt in the Russian camp. Any aircraft that penetrates Ukraine could thus be intercepted by the American-designed fighter plane, when this interception capacity is almost exclusively reserved today for surface-to-air defense systems.
While aviation has played a measured role since the start of the conflict, Russia has in recent weeks stepped up its air support to gain ground in the east of the country, notably during the siege of Adviidka. This is why the Ukrainians are now pressing to have these fighter planes available as quickly as possible. With their trained pilots.