Trained pilots normally get more flying hours before seeing combat, the newspaper has said
Ukraine’s loss of an F-16 fighter jet weeks after a handful of the aircraft arrived in the country is making Western officials wonder whether the decision to accelerate pilot training was wise, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The jet crashed last week during a Russian drone and missile barrage, killing one of Ukraine’s most experienced pilots, Aleksey Mes. Ukrainian investigators have yet to reveal the cause.
Kiev lobbied Western donors to provide dozens of F-16s to bolster its dwindling Soviet-era air fleet. A small cadre of pilots was selected to undergo training courses in Denmark, the US, and Romania, though Kiev is months away from having enough men to deploy a full squadron.
The training focused on the types of missions Ukraine intends to give to F-16s, primarily interception of Russian cruise missiles, the WSJ said. There are no plans to adjust the program, but “the crash shows what happens when you try to rush things,” a senior Western defense official told the newspaper.
Pilots normally fly for months with their units after completing courses, before being tasked with combat missions, but the Ukrainians went into the fight right away, with at most a year of experience operating the aircraft. The rationale was that their experience with Soviet jets would give them an edge over rookies.
There have been claims in Ukraine that the F-16 was shot down by a Patriot missile system, another weapon provided by Western donors. The commander of the Air Force was fired days after the incident.
A source told the WSJ that the aircraft disappeared from radar shortly after a Russian missile exploded near it, possibly damaging the F-16 or forcing the pilot to perform a risky maneuver. The explanation did not say what type of missile it was, or why it exploded in the air rather than when hitting its target on the ground.
Kiev has been rushing military personnel to the front line in order to make up for heavy battlefield losses. General Aleksandr Syrsky, the top commander of the armed forces, admitted that on Thursday in an interview with CNN.
“Of course, everyone wants the level of training to be the best,” he told Christiane Amanpour. “At the same time, the dynamics of the front requires us to constantly put conscripted servicemen as soon as possible.”
