Ukraine loses most experienced pilots who could train on F-16s due to allies' delays

Ukrainian pilots have said that they need Western aircraft to fight the more advanced Russian planes. As they state, unfortunately, Ukraine is losing experienced pilots who could fly F-16s.

Source: The Telegraph, citing Ukrainian pilots

Details: Ukrainian Armed Forces Major Vadym Voroshylov told the newspaper that it was becoming increasingly difficult to deter the Russians with outdated Soviet aircraft.

"The Russians change tactics all the time, so the war isn’t stable. They make traps. They will send up a Russian jet alone, tricking the Ukrainian pilot into thinking there is only one jet. Then, two or three more will appear either side of it, effectively swarming the Ukrainian aircraft," the major said.

As Ukrainian pilots continue to fly Soviet-era MiG-29s, he stressed they can do no more than "hold the battlefield", while it has proved difficult to defeat the Russians who fly the Su-35 modern fighter jets and Su-34 bombers.

"Right now, we can only hold the enemy but with F-16s we could control the airfield, as well as the seas and the ground to protect infantry. We need more modern aircrafts to be better than the enemy," he said. 

In February, the UK government stated that training Ukrainian pilots on British aircraft could take three years, the Telegraph writes.

However, the Telegraph notes that this time frame is something Major Voroshylov and his colleague Colonel Volodymyr Lohachov, chief of the aviation department of the Ukrainian Air Force Command, dispute.

"Less than six months are required to train on such a jet,"  Colonel Lohachov said.

As he states, while Ukraine is waiting for Western aircraft, it is losing its most experienced pilots.

"As long as we continue to wait we will lose more pilots. We had a list of the most advanced pilots who could be trained on F-16s and unfortunately, some of them have already been killed in action," Lohachov said.

According to Lohachov, "to be effective in the air, jets should have modern radars and air-to-air missiles".

"The radars on Russian jets are about four times better than what we have and they can see much further. As well, the Russian missiles are significantly more capable than our Soviet ones. It is getting more dangerous. Sometimes we can’t even see that the Russians have launched missiles, which is very dangerous for pilots," he said.

He explained how Russia has the capability to attack from a distance of 200 km from the contact line, while Ukrainian aircraft have to fly much closer to the Russians in order to attack them.

The pilots’ message is stark: "Getting F-16s would help us survive and keep more people alive".

"If we want to strike Russian jets we have to get much closer to the front line and fly at a low distance, which is very dangerous," Major Voroshylov  said. 

"The Russians have 40 air bases and over 700 aircrafts and helicopters altogether and they are more modern than our jets. We are working on the question to get Western jets because what we currently have is not enough to be effective on the battlefield," he said. 

Background:

• In January, US President Joe Biden stated that his country was not planning to send F-16 fighters to Ukraine.
• Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stressed that Ukrainian defenders need Western F-16 fighter jets.

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