First 20 Ukrainian Pilots to Start F-16 Training in UK

About 20 Ukrainian pilots will begin the first phase of training on F-16 fighters in the UK.

"This will be ground-based basic training of Ukrainian pilots who will then be ready for more specific F-16 [or other] training," reports Foreign Policy referring to an anonymous source in the UK government.

Ukraine hopes to send those who already speak English well to the training to speed up the process.

The NATO Introduction to Fighter Control training will include both simulators and real aircraft.

Last week, the UK announced the launch of an international coalition of countries to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighters, including the F-16s. So far, the coalition includes the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, the United States and Portugal. 

Acting Minister of Defence of Denmark Troels Lund Poulsen said that Ukrainian pilots could start training on F-16 fighter jets in July.

Norway will support the training of Ukrainian pilots and personnel on F-16 fighter jets, too.