Ukrainian F-16 pilots only mastered take-off and landing - general
Ukrainian pilots were unable to fully master the skills of piloting F-16 fighters.
This was stated by Lieutenant General Aitech Bizhev, former Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force for the CIS Joint Air Defense System, in an interview with the Parliamentary Newspaper, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
"I believe that in the time since the initial announcement of the F-16 transfer, Ukrainian pilots have only mastered takeoffs and landings. The task is to conduct combat operations in challenging conditions, with complex jamming environments, and under extensive air defense. These pilots should be second- or first-class pilots by our standards. To reach this level, they need at least three years of training. Therefore, the F-16s will likely be manned by NATO pilots. Or each Ukrainian pilot will be assigned an instructor," the general believes.
According to him, “F-16s will be very constrained in terms of use.”
“The theater of operations is not very large. Plus the lack of a single radar field and automated control system. Plus the F-16 is not such an inconspicuous machine. And there aren't that many of them. Therefore, every fighter will be under the close attention of our reconnaissance means - wherever it is, it will be searched for and destroyed. So, I think, these fighters in the Northern Military District zone will suffer the same fate as all the other vaunted models of Western weapons - Abrams and others,” summed up Bizhev.
Ukrainian F-16 pilots have only mastered takeoff and landing, says general