The first group of Ukrainian student pilots has successfully completed fighter training in France.
Since March 2024, 10 Ukrainian trainees, aged between 21 and 23, have been training at an undisclosed airbase in southwest France, which has been kept confidential for security reasons.
Although France replaced the Alpha Jet with the Pilatus PC-21 for fighter training in 2023, the fleet was maintained in operational condition while the framework for training Ukrainian pilots was being discussed between Western allies. The French military has committed to training 26 Ukrainians in two years.
The training was eventually made possible thanks to a collaboration with Belgium. Until 2018, the Belgian Air Force trained its F-16 pilots on the Alpha Jet. The course was reduced from 18 to six months, during which the Ukrainian student pilots learned air combat fundamentals. The training involved simulator sessions and at least 80 hours of flight time on the Alpha Jet.
“Learning the fundamentals of combat aviation includes training in very low altitude navigation, evolving in a dense tactical framework in the face of ground-to-air and air-to-air threats, aerial combat, air-to-air shooting as well as air-to-ground shooting,” France’s chief of staff explained in a press release. “This is a “tailor-made” teaching in order to optimize training time while ensuring quality…
Source www.aerotime.aero
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