The United States will support a joint effort with allies to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including the F-16, before ultimately providing them.
President Joe Biden informed G-7 leaders of his decision to support the training on Friday, a senior administration official told the Washington Examiner, though it was first reported by Politico. The training will take place outside of Ukraine but in Europe and will take months to complete. They are hoping to start the training in the coming weeks.
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“Today, President Biden informed G-7 leaders that the United States will support a joint effort with our allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16s, to further strengthen and improve the capabilities of the Ukrainian Air Force,” the official said. “As the training takes place over the coming months, our coalition of countries participating in this effort will decide when to actually provide jets, how many we will provide, and who will provide them.”
The decision marks a major step forward in Ukraine’s goal of acquiring F-16s from Western allies, which U.S. defense officials have repeatedly said is not necessary. It remains unclear which countries would participate in the training and who would provide the F-16s down the road.
“It’s not on the agenda on the G-7,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN on Thursday as Biden arrived in Japan. “As for specific capabilities like the F-16, that’s not a specific agenda item. Now, could it come up on the margins? I mean, who knows?”
The senior administration official said the decision to improve Ukraine’s Air Force “reflect[s] our long-term commitment to Ukraine’s self-defense.”
Last week, the United Kingdom announced it provided hundreds of long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles and will begin pilot training with an eye toward getting Ukraine the F-16 fighter jets. Biden has denied requests from Ukraine for long-range missiles due to a policy against enabling strikes within Russian territory.
Two Ukrainian pilots went to Arizona in early March to work with the U.S. military to help them develop their capabilities. A military official told the Washington Examiner at the time that the “familiarization event” was a first between U.S. and Ukrainian pilots and that the Ukrainians did not fly any U.S. craft, simply a simulator.
“The ‘familiarization event’ is essentially a discussion between the Air Force personnel and an observation of how the U.S. Air Force operates. This event allows us to better help Ukrainian pilots become more effective pilots and better advise them on how to develop their own capabilities,” the official said at the time. “There are no immediate plans to increase the number of pilots beyond the two currently in Tucson, but we’re not closing the door on future opportunities.”
Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, told lawmakers in late February that it would take roughly 18 months, “even on the most expeditious timeline,” to train Ukrainians on the F-16s and to deliver the jets.
“Our assessment is that a delivery timeline for F-16, even on the most expeditious timeline, and the training timelines, are essentially the same,” he said. “That is, they’re about 18 months, and so you don’t actually have time by starting the training early in our assessment. And since we haven’t made the decision to provide F-16s, and neither have our allies and partners, it doesn’t make sense to start to train them on a system they may never get.”
A U.S. official told the Washington Examiner on Thursday, when asked if Kahl’s assessment remains accurate, said, “As Undersecretary Kahl has testified, the training could take a significant amount of time which is why this is not a long term capability to strengthen Ukraine’s armed forces over time. This is not a near term capability that would have been helpful for the counteroffensive given the time involved.”
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Biden has said that Ukraine’s military “doesn’t need F-16s now.”
This development, however, represents the latest example of Biden changing his mind about providing Ukraine with a specific weapons system after declining an initial request. He’s done that most recently with the Patriot missile defense system and on Abrams tanks.
