Although the United Kingdom is not an F-16 operator, it has been involved in the basic training of future F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots for the Ukrainian Air Force. Recently, the Royal Air Force (RAF) held a graduation ceremony for a new class of Ukrainian pilots, attended by the UK’s Minister for the Armed Forces, Luke Pollard.
Since the announcement of a substantial transfer of F-16 fighters to the Ukrainian Air Force, led by Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands with U.S. approval, other Western allies that do not operate the fighter jet have also joined this effort. For countries like the United Kingdom and France, the focus has been on providing basic training to familiarize new pilots with Western aircraft. The selected pilots will subsequently continue their training on more advanced aircraft, preparing for conversion courses to transition to the F-16.
In the UK specifically, with this new class of graduates, a total of two hundred Ukrainian pilots have completed their basic and elementary flight training. For this purpose, the main platform used by instructors and trainees has been the RAF’s Grob Tutor T.Mk 1 aircraft.
As noted at the end of last December during the graduation of the first cohort, the program is designed to “… provide trainee pilots with the skills needed to move to the next phase of combat aircraft training with partner nations, bringing future Ukrainian pilots closer to NATO-standard flying practices.” Further adding, “Pilots undergoing the basic flight training program receive practical lessons in Grob Tutor aircraft with experienced RAF instructors, learning general handling procedures, instrument flying, medium- and low-level navigation, and formation flying.”
The RAF highlighted this new milestone in Ukrainian pilot training, stating that the next step will be selecting pilots to advance to initial training on F-16s at European training centers. One key facility is the European F-16 Training Center (EFTC) at Fetesti Air Base in Romania, equipped with advanced training resources such as flight simulators and F-16 fighters provided by European allies, including recent contributions from the Netherlands, which deployed several of its aircraft earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force is in the process of incorporating F-16 fighters provided by Denmark, as seen in a ceremony held in Kyiv last August. The Netherlands, which retired its Fighting Falcons in late September, is also in the process of transferring a total of 24 aircraft to Ukraine.
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