Kyiv pilots must meet “certain criteria” before the US approves the requests ot has received from Denmark and the Netherlands to transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Monday.
Singh that the English language training and logistics on the ground are among the criteria that have to be met in order for the third-party transfer to be completed.
The Pentagon spokesperson explained that this process is going to take some time given the fact that the level of language training that Ukrainian pilots require is significant.
Politico reported back in early August that the language barrier might impede the F-16 training for Ukrainians provided by European countries since only eight of the 32 pilots selected in the first group had sufficient knowledge of English to take part in the training program to fly the US-designed fourth generation fighter jets.
Per the Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary, the US is also prepared to train Ukrainian airmen to fly the F-16s in case Denmark or the Netherlands lack the capacity to teach all of the pilots sent by Ukraine at once, adding that Kyiv still hasn’t come up with the final number of its pilots to receive F-16 training.
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