Ukraine will recruit retired F-16 pilots from NATO countries

President Zelensky tells U.S. Senators Blumenthal and Graham

Yesterday, U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (Republican) and Richard Blumenthal (Democrat) issued a statement from Ukraine following their meeting with President Zelensky:

President Zelensky told us both that he would be looking to supplement his Air Force by establishing a program to enlist retired NATO F-16 fighter pilots. We support this effort. Ukraine is already fielding units of freedom fighters on the ground, and this volunteer force should be replicated in the air.

A decent workaround for a problem quietly created by someone or a small group of men in the West. Despite having substantial training capacity, the Western world has trained fewer than 20 Ukrainian pilots in the last year.

Not for a second am I ready to believe this was an accident or that they were out of capacity. There is capacity to train hundreds of pilots in a year; the willingness to train Ukrainian pilots just wasn’t there.

I think it was deliberate and it certainly helps if someone wants to ensure that Ukraine’s combat capacity did not increase too quickly for their liking.

That wasn’t even the worst part.

The worst part is that this decision was made some time last year when the escalation managers in the Western world were still hugging too many red lines with respect to Putin. A lot has changed in the past year. But despite Ukraine requesting the West to rectify this error, so far nothing has been done.

Literally nothing.

There has been no effort to ramp up the training efforts. As a result, Ukraine is set to receive more jets this year than it has pilots. I am not sure, but I think you need multiple pilots for each aircraft.

You need rest.

You need rotation.

Twenty pilots is nothing.

According to Institute for the Study of War (ISW):

Ukrainian and Western officials have previously indicated that it will take significant time to adequately train enough Ukrainian pilots and equip Ukrainian forces with the roughly at least 150 F-16s necessary to gain the air superiority necessary to support ground operations.

Ukraine needs 150 jets to take full control of the sky. As of now, the allies have promised to deliver 60 jets. I have no idea if or when the allies will increase that number to 150. But the least they could have done is provide Ukraine with a robust pilot training program that continually supplies trained pilots, building their long-term deterrence.

Unfortunately, that is not happening. The best bet is for Ukraine to use their own pilots to train future pilots, but that is a long-term solution. In the short term, Ukraine is in dire need of trained pilots to make use of the jets coming their way.

I wrote about this option a while ago, and I am glad that Ukraine is pursuing it. The reason I suggested this as an option is because it has been done before.

According to Dr. Fred Hoffman, Prof of Intelligence Studies, U.S. Army,

“An F-16 is now decades old, yes, but even in mid-2024 possesses performance capabilities (and integration with other critical systems) that outstrip those of the Russian/Soviet-era aircraft flown by the Putin’s air force.

In short: The presence of the aircraft in Ukrainian skies will be significant. Having a competent, capable, experienced pilot at the controls amplifies the impact F-16s will have over Ukraine. There are a number of former NATO F-16 pilots who have been interested in flying that aircraft for Ukraine — and they should now be actively recruited and embraced.

There’s ample historical precedent for something like this: The Flying Tigers in China. The Eagle Squadron in the UK. Soviet pilots over Korea in the Korean War”.

Let me give you a practical example of how important F-16s will be for Ukraine.

Putin is on the back foot in Kursk Oblast. Ukraine has decided to dig in and fight for victory. They will transition from a rapid advance to a dogged holding pattern very soon. Either the city of Rylsk or Sudza in Kursk Oblast will become the fulcrum of the fight.

What is Putin going to do?

He does not have heavy weapons. He has a ton of infantry, but they can’t keep up against a force built with mobility in mind.

He is going to bring out his artillery and air force to bombard Russian cities. He didn’t care that more than a million Russian soldiers were lost in his imperial conquest. He is certainly not going to care about buildings and homes in Russian towns.

Russians are dropping hundreds of glide bombs across the frontline every day, and a bulk of those bombs will now be dropped in Kursk.

This is not an unwanted outcome for Ukraine. In fact, it is what Ukraine wants Putin to do — to stop bombing and destroying Ukrainian towns and encourage Putin to turn his own cities into the next Aleppo.

However, Ukraine still has to pay for this with its blood. Their troops must hold the Russian towns to attract the Russian air force and artillery units towards them.

If Ukraine has a good number of fighter jets, they can push the Russian jets back. Russian jets will struggle to get close to the frontline to drop their glide bombs. I am not even asking for Ukraine to be allowed to use F-16s as an offensive weapon. Simply raising their capacity to a level where they can be defensively deployed would make a huge difference for Ukraine.

This decision by Ukraine to start recruiting retired NATO pilots is a good one. I am sure there will be plenty of people willing to sign up to protect the democratic world.

Thanks for reading. Making critical information on Ukraine accessible is one way to fight misinformation. That’s why I’ve made 246 stories free to the public in 2024, including this one.