Western officials are debating the wisdom of Ukraine’s decision to put F-16 fighters into combat just weeks after receiving them, and under the command of pilots who have not had sufficient experience flying them. The Wall Street Journal writes about this, citing sources among American officials.
There are no plans to change the current training program for Ukrainian pilots, but “the accident showed what happens when you try to rush things,” said one of the interlocutors, who holds a senior position in the Pentagon.
According to him, some Ukrainian pilots did not pass the training program and before the accident, the authorities in Denmark, where the pilots were trained, expressed concern about the ability of some of them to fly the F-16 independently.
Ukrainian pilot killed Alexey Month The Sunfish, called the Sunfish, was not one of the fighters that worried instructors. He and his fellow soldiers went through an intensive course at Denmark’s Skrydstrup airbase, tailoring the program to the scenarios they would face on the battlefield. The WSJ source clarified that during training they decided to spend more time on air defense, rather than studying all the tasks the fighter is capable of performing.
Typically, pilots go through a more comprehensive course to fly the F-16 and then train with their unit for up to a year before they can be assigned to a combat mission. However, the Ukrainian pilots were immediately sent to the battlefield, even though their experience with the F-16 did not exceed a year.
On Monday, August 26, the Ukrainian military lost its first American F-16 fighter jet. A source told The Wall Street Journal that the F-16 was not shot down and that the crash was likely due to pilot error. Vladimir Zelensky He then dismissed the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ aviation, Lieutenant General. Nikolai Oleschuk*.
The exact cause of the crash has not yet been established. American officials interviewed by the New York Times doubted that the F-16 was shot down from a Patriot launcher. Several versions of what happened are now being considered, including a technical fault and pilot error.
Russia condemns the supply of weapons to Ukraine by Western countries and other military assistance to kyiv. The Kremlin linked the receipt of F-16s by the Ukrainian military to further escalation and the growing involvement of Western countries in the conflict.
*An individual included in the RosFinMonitoring list of terrorists and extremists
