The vast American plan for military and economic assistance to Ukraine of 61 billion dollars received yesterday, Wednesday April 24, the signature of Joe Biden, the day after its adoption after months of negotiations in the United States, the president American promising to send weapons to kyiv this week. For their part, the Europeans are organizing the delivery to the Ukrainian forces of 45 F-16 fighter planes, single-engine fighters supplied by Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway.
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The first ten Ukrainian pilots to be trained in Europe are arriving in France, where they are now receiving comprehensive fighter pilot training from the Air Force. This training is carried out on a base in the south-west of France, the French authorities for obvious security reasons do not wish to specify which base welcomes the Ukrainian military. These apprentice pilots are young, aged 21 to 23, four have already flown Czechoslovakian L-39 training planes, the others have never sat in a cockpit before.
Initial training in Great Britain
Before arriving in France, they all passed through Great Britain for three months for initial training and to become familiar with English which is the working language of pilots within theNATO. The first four trainees who already had aeronautics experience arrived in France at the beginning of March, they are there for six months, and they discovered the Alpha Jet, the Patrouille de France plane, long used for training of French pilots.
Around thirty aircraft which were gradually intended to be withdrawn from service were kept precisely in order to allow this learning without having to use the resources of the Cognac air base which, each year, trains around thirty French fighter pilots.
On their base in the southwest, in just six months, these beginner aviators will learn all the basics of the profession: close air combat, distance combat with the use of radar, ground attack, i.e. 80 hours of flight and fifty assignments. on simulator by pilot. Accelerated training twice as short as a course in the air force, but kyiv had no choice, its air force, seriously damaged since the start of the war, must be rebuilt as quickly as possible.
The F-16 planes are due to be delivered in the summer. At the end of their training in France, the Ukrainian pilots will therefore switch to these aircraft, but in another country, possibly in Romania, for a four-month adaptation. They will then be thrown into the deep end, with the first patrols at the end of 2024.
Will these F-16s be able to change the course of the war?
Equipment alone does not change the course of a war, but nevertheless with the F-16, the Ukrainian air force will enter modernity fully. With this aircraft designed for air superiority, the Ukrainians will be able to challenge the Russian fighter. Armed with air-to-air missiles and cruise missiles Scalp they will have the capacity to pose a threat and therefore to dilute the ground-air defense in the depth of the Russian system. The F-16 will generate uncertainty among the adversary, and in military terms we call this a game changer.
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