Well Well, more skeletons are out of the cupboard!
Last week, an F-16 fighter jet gifted to Ukraine by Western nations kissed the ground while combating a Russian drone attack. Now, a senior Western official has directly accused President Volodymyr Zelensky of trying to ‘rushing things.’
The Western nations are seething in anger as we know; F-16s are no toys. And if any of them ends up in Russian hands, US risks losing technological edge over Russia because of reverse-engineering concerns.
That’s why there are some reports claiming that US may now recall some of the fighter jets from Ukraine and keep them at foreign bases.
News Agency AP quoted head of aviation within Ukraine’s air force, Serhii Holubtsov, as saying that, “a certain number of aircraft will be stored at secure air bases outside of Ukraine so that they are not targeted here.”
He also hinted that there were no enough well-trained pilots in Ukraine to operate the advanced jets.
He said, “If there are more pilots, there will be more aircraft in Ukraine.”
You see, the Western governments are fast waking up to the reality on ground. The F-16 crash came as a rude shock, laying bare the façade of the Kursk offensive and the media hype.
A senior Western defense official told Wall Street Journal that the crash indicates only one thing: You can’t rush such critical things.
He said: “The crash shows what happens when you try to rush things.”
Even before handing out F-16s to Ukraine, the Danish government had concerns over the inadequacy of the training provided to Ukrainian pilots.
F-16 pilots undergo an extensive training period, often extending to several years. But the official said, “In contrast, Ukrainian pilots were quickly thrust into “the fight right away, with at most a year of experience operating the aircraft.”
Earlier, the pilots were operating older Soviet jets. The advanced systems of the F-16 jets may make life even more difficult for them. Not to forget that many training materials were in English, a language not all Ukrainian pilots were fluent in.
That’s why Ukraine was strictly allowed to use these jets for defense purposes. But now, concerns are being raised that Zelensky may have rushed to deploy them near the war hotspots.
Indian news outlet EurAsian News reached out to Indian Air Force experts to know where Ukraine went wrong.
Air Marshal Anil Chopra explained that there are three stages for a human to become a pilot.
He said, “The first is that you train a human being to become a pilot. The second stage is turning that pilot into a fighter pilot. The third stage is converting them to fly a specific type of aircraft.”
He pointed out that, in Ukraine’s case, the first stage had already been completed because those chosen for training were pilots with Ukrainian air force.
The Air Marshal said, “However, it takes further training to become fully operational, meaning ready for combat. There are armaments, electronics, warfare tactics, and many other aspects involved. Therefore, just training a pilot to fly an F-16 is not enough. If you rush through the whole process of flying the F-16 and becoming operational, there are significant risks.”
He mentioned that it was expected from the beginning that Ukraine would lose its F-16s in the early stages, either in the air or on the ground.
The air marshal said, “You can shorten the training by a small amount, but not too much. The training has to be thorough. If you go to war with minimal training, there is a high risk of getting shot down.”
It must be noted that Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have committed to providing Ukraine with over 60 U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets. But the crash has seemingly made them rethink their decision.