They arrived in France at the beginning of April. The first 11 Ukrainian fighter pilot apprentices have taken up residence at a base in the southwest of France. For security reasons, the location of this training is kept secret, and it is also forbidden to speak to them, but for the first time a few journalists were allowed to meet these Ukrainian pilots. Franck Alexandre’s report was made on June 15.
The engines of the Alpha Jets roar on the tarmac on which hangs a smell of burnt rubber and kerosene. One after the other the two-seater Alpha Jets come out of their cell to engage on the Taxiway… The helmet of a student pilot emerges from the cockpit. The student occupies the front seat, behind him, a French instructor, it is also this experienced pilot who goes around the plane before takeoff: “ This allows him to be more focused on his mission and I will be the captain, so I am the one who takes care of the aircraft and checks that everything is compliant and up to standard for the flight. ».
These 11 Ukrainian pilots are not novices. Ukraine, They had already flown a hundred hours on a training plane. Then, they followed initial training in the United Kingdom, to NATO standards, in particular to familiarize themselves with English, the language used in Western cockpits.
Now, they are getting into the hard stuff, on Alpha Jet with training three times faster than normal. This is a first, says Franz, an Air Force instructor: “ It is a first to train fighter pilots from a country at war, yes. Training fighter pilots, the work remains exactly the same. We will have become aware, I think, of the speed when they have left. In fact, then, we will realize the work done and finally the short time it will have lasted. »
Less than six months before joining a transformation squadron and switching to F-16 aircraft. In the meantime, we have to get to the point, and skip a few chapters like solo flights and in-flight refueling.
We must focus on the core business. Distance from the target, coordinates, altitude, speed… A briefing is underway in the operations room with an instructor for each pilot. Today’s mission: simulated bombing of an ammunition stockpile, a basic mission, says instructor Benjamin: “We have a trainee who has reached almost halfway through his training, and after having carried out a fair number of standard low-altitude missions, that is to say really navigation missions to learn not to get lost, we are now switching to more tactical training. A relatively simple tactical situation with a materialized enemy/friend line, ground/air defense sites, things of that type. And so we train them, little by little, in increasingly complex situations to bring them to the level that will be that of carrying out this same type of mission, but on an F-16 type aircraft. “.
Read alsoFrance to sell Mirage 2000-5s to Ukraine: “Complementary to the F-16”
Twenty-six pilots in total will be trained in France
Forty F-16 aircraft have been transferred to Ukraine, these 11 pilots in training will therefore be the linchpin of the new Ukrainian air force.
“They are very young pilots, emphasizes Instructor Benjamin. They are all between 21 and 23 years old. They are real sponges, particularly motivated in addition, so they are very attentive. They want it. We adapt their training, as you can see, we have almost only very experienced instructors. We all have about 20 years of seniority as fighter pilots in our armed forces. But it remains a challenge that we take up together with our Ukrainian trainees, whom we assist enormously. We support them in their progress. And so we really put this varnish on Western methods. The basis is learning autonomy, that is what we are trying to make them discover here. The Russian methods, to which Ukrainian pilots were accustomed until now, are not very autonomous, these Russian methods are largely based on information from the ground. In Western methods, the pilots depend less on ground control and are much more autonomous.
Read alsoSeveral Ukrainian pilots in training in the southwest of France
Autonomy, the key word in piloting
Autonomy requires mastering the basics of piloting and even if the training takes place in accelerated mode, the fundamentals are taught rigorously, insists instructor Franz.
“ Here, we will give them all the basics, namely applying procedures, evolving in a tactical situation, knowing how to react when there is a breakdown, knowing how to react in bad weather. The idea is that they have learned as many things as possible to have. Only F-16 or Mirage specific when they are in a transformation squadron. Because later, they will go on a two-seater plane like here, always with a rear class instructor, the time to learn to master this new plane. So, they will have all the basics here and the habit of speaking with an instructor who is behind, who has all the controls like in a driving school “.
There France will train 26 pilots in total and this first class should experience their baptism of fire next fall. The trainees will follow one another on this base. The only French base to have an Alpha Jet squadron. Until 2019, Belgian and also French pilots came to train there. The squadron was to be disbanded, the war in Ukraine disrupted the schedule.
The base has proven to be the most suitable tool for training Ukrainian pilots, says Instructor Benjamin: ” Over the past 20 years, we have trained French and Belgian fighter pilots. For the French pilots, some were sent on Mirage 2000s. The Belgian pilots were sent on F-16s. The training was strictly the same. Finally, the NATO framework in which we operate as fighter pilots is the same. Whatever the nationality that one flies on a French machine, it will always be Western-typed. If it is on an F-16, the operation will be substantially the same, that is to say that the tactical methods applied will be exactly the same. So our training is completely versatile and covers the entire spectrum of aircraft on which our trainees are likely to fly. “.
After their time in France, the Ukrainian trainee pilots will be able to switch, without difficulty, to either the F-16 or the Mirage 2000-5, aircraft soon to be transferred by France. Until then, the training continues at a hellish pace, with long days and little rest.
Strong links are necessarily established with the French instructors, but we do not talk about the war, says Franz, an Air Force officer: “ We rarely talk about the Ukrainian conflict because I think they don’t need to be reminded of it on a daily basis, so we stay in the professionalism, in the instruction. We tell them here it is, you have to know how to do it on F-16. That’s how it works, it’s good to learn this procedure right away, et cetera. So, we nevertheless talk about how to fight, how to wage war. We give them simulated objectives. We tell them “So today, we’re going to take this objective, we’re going to say that it’s an ammunition depot and the goal is to go and destroy it,” So there are allusions to the war. But we don’t talk about the conflict on a daily basis. It must be hard enough for them, we don’t talk about that with them. “.
Read alsoTransfer of Mirage 2000-5 to Ukraine: U-turn in French presidential position