Ukrainian pilots began training on F-16 jets at a special center in Romania this week, as Kiev seeks to speed up the use of these prized US fighters to cover Russian strikes, reports AFP, cited by BTA.
The first four servicemen have arrived and are currently undergoing “purely theoretical“ courses before the start of the “practical phase at the end of the year”, Romanian Defense Ministry spokesman Constantin Spanu told AFP on Friday.
At the beginning of August, Ukraine announced that it had received its first F-16s from the West, which the country had been demanding for two years, the agency reminds.
Some of the country's pilots are trained in other NATO countries, including France.
But Romania, which occupies a strategic position on the border with Ukraine and the Black Sea, wants to become an “international center” for F-16 training.
In November 2023, it opened a regional center at the Fetești air base in the south-east of the country, about 150 km from the capital Bucharest, which is open to all allies.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov welcomed the announcement of new pilot training that will allow “more F-16s to fly in Ukrainian skies”, according to a message published on X on Thursday.
The Netherlands will provide more than a dozen American fighter jets for this training.
The Romanian military currently has 26 F-16s - 17 delivered from Portugal and nine from Norway. The Scandinavian country is due to deliver another 23 by the end of 2025.
American defense equipment manufacturer Lockheed Martin (Lockheed Martin), which manufactures the F-16, is responsible for training and maintaining the aircraft.
Since the opening of the center, seven Romanian pilots have already completed their training.