Group of 11 countries forms coalition for training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters
On Tuesday, 11 July, Ukraine signed a memorandum with its 11 partner states at the NATO Summit in Vilnius. The memorandum defines the conditions of training of Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 fighters.
Source: Oleksii Reznikov, Minister of Defence of Ukraine, on Twitter, cited by European Pravda
Quote: "Today, 11 partner states and Ukraine signed a Memorandum outlining the terms. I'm especially grateful to Denmark and the Netherlands for their outstanding leadership in this process."
Details: The memorandum stipulates that the Ukrainian pilots, technicians, and support staff will participate in a training program.
There is also the possibility of including other types of fighter aircraft in the program.
The coalition is ready to consider other means of granting Ukraine fully functional F-16 capabilities. "The F-16s will protect Ukraine’s skies and NATO's Eastern Flank. The Ukrainian Air Force is prepared to master them as quickly as possible," Reznikov added.
The Ministry of Defence of Denmark reported that Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the UK agreed to start the training of Ukrainians on the F-16 fighters.
The training is expected to start at the end of the summer and will be conducted in Denmark.
"It is crucial that the Ukrainians get the opportunity to protect their air space. The first step is to teach them to fly, maintain and repair the F-16 fighters in basic tactical and technical levels. This is a large-scale and long-term work so it is important that there is an extensive circle of countries, which are uniting their efforts to fulfil this task. In the long run this will be of great significance for Ukraine’s fight for freedom," Troels Lund Poulsen, acting Minister of Defence of Denmark, stated.
Background: At the end of June, the media reported that the member states of the so-called fighter jet coalition are considering Romania as a possible place for the training of the Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 fighters.
After that, Romania confirmed that it wanted to create a pilot training center for flying F-16 fighter jets, which NATO member states and allies could use in the future.
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