An infrastructure is being created in Romania for training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 aircraft.
Yurii Ihnat, the spokesperson for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), announced this on the air of the telethon.
"A pilot training center is being formed in Romania. In order for it to be formed, it is necessary to provide a base, to provide it with aviation simulators, as well as F-16 combat training aircraft, that is, two-seaters, which will be a component of this center. The partners are consistent and provide this country with these means, form all the necessary infrastructure," Ihnat said.
He noted that Ukraine, which is a future member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), will also have to create training centers for pilots in its territory.
"Ukraine will also obviously create such centers, perhaps not one, but several such centers where training will be provided. What airplanes already provide is that the crown of training is piloting, and for this, in order to master a fighter, you need to fly with an instructor. Now partners are already starting to deliver these planes, so that the Ukrainian military, who are studying in the United States and Europe, can study there after some time (in Romania - ed.)," Ihnat said.
He also emphasized that the process of pilot education and training is ongoing.
"This process is unceasing. Pilots are constantly trained; there is no such thing as a 5-year apprenticeship, and the training is over," Ihnat said, adding that even in peacetime flight shifts last almost five times a week.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, at the end of October, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink reported that Ukrainian pilots had begun training on F-16 fighter jets in Arizona.
The Pentagon reported that the training of Ukrainian pilots on American F-16 fighter jets may last up to 9 months.
Meanwhile, the Commander-in-Chief of the AFU said that by delaying the delivery of the F-16, Western partners allowed russia to regroup and strengthen its air defenses.
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