50 Ukrainian pilots will train at the air base in Feteşti

President Klaus Iohannis informed the Parliament through a letter that he approved the training of 50 Ukrainian military pilots in Romania, who will be trained in the training center at the Feteşti air base in the handling of F-16 fighter jets. It is about the program approved at the NATO summit in Vilnius, in which Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania are involved and which aims to train Ukrainian pilots who would operate the F-16 planes in combat that they will receive from some allied states . In addition, by the same decision, the head of state also gave the green light to the transit of military convoys transporting equipment and goods donated to Ukraine by Finland through the national territory. The information provided by President Klaus Iohannis was sent to the defense committees of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate and will be on the agenda of the next joint plenary session of the Parliament, a session in which new members of the National Council for the Study of Former Security Guards.

As for the training of Ukrainian pilots in our country, sources from the Ministry of Defense claimed for the media that the respective soldiers will arrive at the Feteşti air base this summer, and their training is scheduled to end at the end of the current year.

According to an article published by The New York Times, Ukraine could have some F-16 fighter jets as early as July this year, although some NATO states have promised the aircraft as early as spring 2023. However, it seems that in July, the authorities in Kiev will receive 6 of the 45 F-16 fighter jets that the allied states are willing to send to Ukraine. Of these, 24 will be delivered by the Netherlands (Netherlands), the rest from Denmark, Norway and Belgium, and the delivered aircraft will be equipped with short- and medium-range missiles and bombs, partially compensating for the shortage of ground munitions.

So far, twelve Ukrainian pilots have been trained to fly the F-16 fighter jets after 10 months of courses and training at air bases in Denmark, Great Britain and the United States. Pilot training proceeded quickly, although the Ukrainian military had to learn English and Western military practices before the actual training in order to effectively use the F-16s.

The New York Times reports: "Initially, the Ukrainians were sent to Denmark instead of the training center in Romania, because it was not yet open when the first pilots were ready to start training. The creation of the center at the Fetesti base was announced last July, at the NATO summit in Vilnius, but in November its instructors began training Romania's own pilots for the new squadron of F-16 aircraft received by that country".

So that the training of the first Ukrainian pilots began in August 2023 at the Skrydstrup Air Base in southern Denmark, by January 2024, the Ukrainian pilots were ready to fly, according to the statements of Danish officials to the cited source.

In addition to the Ukrainian pilots, 50 Ukrainian technicians were also trained in Denmark who will ensure the maintenance of the F-16 aircraft and manage the armament on them. For the maintenance of an F-16 plane, a team consisting of a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 14 people is needed, due to the complexity of the aircraft, says the quoted source.