Problems related to the delivery of the US-made F-16 fighter jets to the Kiev regime remain – "from the number of pilots who will be able to fly them to crews ready to keep them working," an unnamed senior defense American official told the Defense News.
Ukrainian pilots’ "training pipeline" on the F-16s "is pretty meager," the official said, adding that training remains the main "kink" in the process to deliver the F-16s to Ukraine.
"Between Europe and the US, there are only a dozen or so Ukrainian pilots learning to fly the planes right now. That’s just a handful of pilots, and that’s just the pilots," the source said.
Other members of an F-16 crew, such as maintenance experts, who keep the fighter in working order, are also critical, the official noted.
Other issues include "the length of the course itself — made more difficult by the highly technical English language training required — and finding a place to store the trainers," they added.
As many as 60 F-16s are expected to be delivered to Ukraine from Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium before the end of this year. The White House earlier confirmed that Kiev would receive the F-16s from third countries once the Ukrainian pilots have completed the necessary training to fly them. The UK-based newspaper, The Standard, cited a high-ranking military source as saying last month that the first batch of the F-16s "would arrive in Ukraine within weeks."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the delivery of F-16 warplanes to the Kiev regime would lead to a further escalation of the Ukraine conflict because the aircraft has a modification that makes them nuclear-capable, which poses a direct threat to Russia.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia emphasized that even if Western countries supply F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, they will not have the power to alter the situation on the battlefield. He warned that if these fighter jets are deployed from third-country territories, they will be considered legitimate targets for Russian forces. The president further stated that the F-16s, just like other Western equipment delivered to Kiev, would be destroyed.