Ukraine and the Czech Republic have agreed to establish a training program for Ukrainian Air Force pilots on F-16 fighter jets and L-39 training aircraft on Czech territory, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Prague on 4 April.
The training of Ukrainian pilots started in August 2023 in the UK and in the various European countries.
A new wave of training will take place at bases in the Czech Republic, according to Fiala. Ukraine reportedly is already training fighter pilots on Czech models that are being supplied to Ukraine.
The joint training school was announced in response to concerns that preparation of Ukrainian pilots for F-16s, which began in 2023, has been progressing too slowly to immediately strengthen Ukraine’s Air Force capabilities.
Zelenskyy said that it’s impossible to create such a base in Ukraine because of security reasons due to Russian daily strikes.
The Czech’s PM said that the partners from the “coalition of the willing” will train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 and L-39 fighters.
Retired Colonel Zdenek Petras, now an analyst at the University of Defense in Brno, told Radio Liberty that L-39 aircraft will not allow full mastery of the fourth-generation F-16 fighter. Using actual F-16s will present another challenge – the lack of Czech instructors.
Petras explained to Radio Liberty that in the Czech Republic JAS-39 Gripen is the only platform used for national air defense, NATO air patrol missions, and to support NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense System. “For this reason, Czech Armed Forces personnel currently have only limited capacity to conduct intensive and systematic training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16,” he said.
However, Petras added that the Czech Republic can provide its infrastructure for training conducted by instructors from other NATO countries.
Fiala mentioned that training within the “coalition of the willing” could take place in Náměšť nad Oslavou, where a military airport is located.
According to Petras, Czech armed forces could also offer the modern Flight Training Center at the military air base in Pardubice for Ukrainian pilot training.
Zelenskyy did not provide a timeline for the program but said that partners are ready “to implement this project as soon as possible.”
Training of Ukrainian pilots in other countries
The training of Ukrainian pilots started in August 2023, initiated then by the United Kingdom as part of the international Air Force Capability Coalition. The formal F-16 pilot training program, led by Denmark and the Netherlands, also began in August 2023.
Ukrainian pilots are currently being trained on F-16 fighters in several countries, including the United Kingdom, United States, Romania, and Denmark. The exact number of trained pilots has not been disclosed for security reasons, but it is known that 14 pilots began training in Romania.
A year ago, the training for the first Ukrainian pilots completed at the US Air National Guard base in Tucson, Arizona.
According to The Wall Street Journal, approximately ten Ukrainian pilots had completed training. A Western official told the publication that some pilots who began training in Denmark did not complete the program.
The challenge lies not only in the capacity of training centers and the speed of training Ukrainian military personnel – some of whom lack experience with similar fighters like the MiG-29 and English language skills – but also in the slow pace of aircraft deliveries.
Ukrainian authorities have been requesting modern F-16 fighters from the West since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. In 2023, several countries, with US approval, decided to supply Kyiv with these aircraft. The arrival of the first F-16 fighters was announced in early August 2024, when they were shown during Ukrainian Air Force Day celebrations.
According to The Economist, Ukraine has received 10 of the promised 79 aircraft. Two of them have reportedly been lost.
Recently, Ukrainian authorities confirmed the death of a second pilot who was performing missions on an F-16 fighter. The Ukrainian Air Force announced the death of Pavlo Ivanov on 12 April.
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