US will start training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s at air base in Arizona
US will start training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s at air base in Arizona
The U.S. is joining NATO allies in hosting training for Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, beginning at an Arizona Air National Guard base in October.
The U.S. will start training Ukrainian pilots to fly U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, beginning at an Air National Guard base in October, the Pentagon said Thursday.
The training is part of a U.S. and European effort to get the advanced fighter jets to Ukraine for its defense against invading Russian forces.
Ukraine has been calling for this since the start of the war.
I understand the political minefield this war poses, but I cannot help but recall the countless lives lost in the trenches before this decision was finally made.
If the US had begun this process sooner, is it not likely that the situation would be much different now?
12Used to live in PHX and there’s an apartment complex almost entirely filled by young Chinese kids, right next to a student airport. The CCP pays to house them all and train them up to be fully certified pilots, then go off and do whatever Poo Bear says.
It saddens me that my government didn’t jump on the chance to fly a few dozen folks over from Kyiv and do the same. AZ is the perfect place to learn how to drive a plane and we have a LOT of 16s, they’re not the newest model on the show floor but a Falcon in your pocket can make a very very large fucking difference to an infantry grunt.
5Biggest difference is that Ukraine would be doing much better in regards to control of airspace.
The best use of these f-16s isn't going to be as air superiority fighters, but in the wild weasel/SEAD role.
Their ability to use HARM missiles in their "self-protect" and "target of opportunity" modes (which is only possible with NATO-spec avionics) will massively improve Ukraine's air defense suppression and elimination capabilities, freeing up their Soviet built mig-29s and SU-27s to face off against Russian aircraft. Not to mention open up airspace to rotor-wing assets for CAS or logistics.
Currently, they're only able to use the harm missiles in "pre-briefed" mode, which requires them to know the area of an air defense site, and then it targets the radar emission in that zone. The other two modes are able to detect and seek out air defense sites on the fly, as it were
5The US had to test all their old weapons before to kill as much Ukrainian civilians as possible. But it'll still be the same if they have time to complete this other madness before they have to give up trying to take over the territories
-16The hoops you had to jump through to make that make sense to you have left you loopy my dude. Please take a moment to orient yourself in time and space before commenting again, thanks.
11Jeez the Tankie fruit loops on here running rings around in their brain to come up with some messed up take is really the only down side to Lemmy.
Like, folks, look at that logic.... "America is killing Ukrainians". Not one mention of Papa Putin and his war of aggression.
Bucha? No. Theatres full of kids? No. Ethnic cleansing? Absolutely not.
This punter has managed to convince themselves it's America killing Ukrainians and trying to take over Ukraine.
Mental.
6