The United States and its allies are considering the possibility of training Ukrainian pilots as part of a long-term effort to help Ukraine build a future air force.
This was announced by the U.S. Air Force’s Chief of Staff Charles Brown, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Liga Business publication.
Brown acknowledged that discussions about training Ukrainian pilots were underway. According to him, the discussions are about a long-term plan to build the air force that Ukraine will need in the future.
Brown did not comment on the bill in the U.S. Congress that proposes authorizing USD 100 million for training Ukrainian pilots and maintainers on U.S. combat aircraft. He also declined to speculate on timelines or the kinds of Western aircraft that might be best suited for Ukraine.
However, he stressed that future training for Ukrainian pilots was a complex issue. According to him, it will be necessary to take into account the state of the war and Ukraine’s ability to remove pilots from the battlefield to undergo lengthy training.
According to the general, the transition from one type of Western aircraft to another takes American pilots two to four months, but transitioning from a Soviet system would be "a little harder."
That notwithstanding, Brown said Ukraine could look to NATO allies with experience transitioning from Soviet-era aircraft to Western systems.
"I feel pretty confident there are some of our NATO partners who have done that can actually have lessons that they learned that can be helpful to the Ukrainians to help them figure out how to best make that transition," he said.
