The Ukrainian Air Force’s Chief of Aviation has said that part of the nation’s future fleet of F-16s will be based abroad so as to protect it from Russian strikes.
Speaking on Sunday, Brigadier General Serhiy Holubtsov said that this would safeguard the planes from attack and ensure that the air force had a consistent number of F-16s at its disposal.
“There is a number of aircraft that will go to Ukraine, and a certain number of aircraft that will be stored at secure air bases outside of Ukraine so that they are not targeted here - this will be our reserve,” he said.
Continuing, Holubtsov added: “That is, so that we can constantly have a certain number of aircraft in the operational inventory, which will correspond to the number of pilots we have. When there will be more pilots – there will be more planes in Ukraine.”
The number of planes due to arrive remains shrouded in secrecy, but analysts widely agree that the deployment is likely to be small-scale. According to some inside military sources, Kyiv will not gamble on operating more than four to six F-16s initially, and even these will only be involved in low-risk missions.
Of the NATO facilities that the planes will be kept in, Poland has been mooted as a potential maintenance base and Romania for operations.
The Kremlin has already responded furiously after a rare strike inside mainland Russia committed with U.S.-made munitions. Just a few days ago Vladimir Putin pledged that Russia would retaliate “asymmetrically” to bring Washington to book for aiding Kyiv in the attack.
On Monday, meanwhile, Andrei Kartapolov, Chairman of the Defense Committee in the Russian parliament, upped the rhetoric to say that Russia would hit Ukrainian F-16s wherever they were in the event they were used to attack Russia.
“If they will not be used for their main (military) purpose, then they won't be targeted,” he said. “But if they participate in combat missions then, unconditionally, they will be targets. Including the airfields on which they would be based, with all the implications necessarily following from that.”
Holubstov, however, has moved to quell Ukrainian expectations, telling the public that the roll-out of F-16s should not be heralded as an immediate game changer.
“It’s like this: crawl, walk, run. We haven’t learned to crawl yet. The planes will arrive, we will understand that we will go somewhere deep in the country, we will try to see what these planes can do, we will learn, we will get used to it, we will work in airspace that is relatively safe. Then we will go further. And when we learn to walk, then we’ll run,” Holubtsov said.
“After that will come the third stage – leveraging an advantage,” he added.
Moreover, Holubstov confirmed that the number of qualified pilots and training school slots remains a concern. Among other things, with training and operational materials largely in English-language, strong English skills have been seen as an essential qualification for prospective pilots.
According to Holubutsov, language training for pilots with already basic levels of English has added two-to-four months to training cycles.
“There is a number of aircraft that will go to Ukraine, and a certain number of aircraft that will be stored at secure air bases outside of Ukraine so that they are not targeted here - this will be our reserve,” he said.
Continuing, Holubtsov added: “That is, so that we can constantly have a certain number of aircraft in the operational inventory, which will correspond to the number of pilots we have. When there will be more pilots – there will be more planes in Ukraine.”
The number of planes due to arrive remains shrouded in secrecy, but analysts widely agree that the deployment is likely to be small-scale. According to some inside military sources, Kyiv will not gamble on operating more than four to six F-16s initially, and even these will only be involved in low-risk missions.
Of the NATO facilities that the planes will be kept in, Poland has been mooted as a potential maintenance base and Romania for operations.
The Kremlin has already responded furiously after a rare strike inside mainland Russia committed with U.S.-made munitions. Just a few days ago Vladimir Putin pledged that Russia would retaliate “asymmetrically” to bring Washington to book for aiding Kyiv in the attack.
On Monday, meanwhile, Andrei Kartapolov, Chairman of the Defense Committee in the Russian parliament, upped the rhetoric to say that Russia would hit Ukrainian F-16s wherever they were in the event they were used to attack Russia.
“If they will not be used for their main (military) purpose, then they won't be targeted,” he said. “But if they participate in combat missions then, unconditionally, they will be targets. Including the airfields on which they would be based, with all the implications necessarily following from that.”
Holubstov, however, has moved to quell Ukrainian expectations, telling the public that the roll-out of F-16s should not be heralded as an immediate game changer.
“It’s like this: crawl, walk, run. We haven’t learned to crawl yet. The planes will arrive, we will understand that we will go somewhere deep in the country, we will try to see what these planes can do, we will learn, we will get used to it, we will work in airspace that is relatively safe. Then we will go further. And when we learn to walk, then we’ll run,” Holubtsov said.
“After that will come the third stage – leveraging an advantage,” he added.
Moreover, Holubstov confirmed that the number of qualified pilots and training school slots remains a concern. Among other things, with training and operational materials largely in English-language, strong English skills have been seen as an essential qualification for prospective pilots.
According to Holubutsov, language training for pilots with already basic levels of English has added two-to-four months to training cycles.
Source: Kyiv Independent
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