Ukraine F-16 Fighter Pilot Training to Begin in Romania

Facts

• According to officials at the NATO summit in Lithuania on Tuesday, a group of 11 nations will begin training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets in August in Denmark, with a training center to be set up in Romania.¹
• Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, who announced the program alongside the Dutch and Danish defense ministers, said he hoped the training would last no longer than six months.²
• Though NATO members Denmark and the Netherlands have been leading international efforts to train pilots and support staff, as well as maintain the aircraft, no countries have committed to sending F-16s to Ukraine so far. However, Poland and Slovakia have supplied 27 MiG-29s.³
• The coalition will also include Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and the UK. While Denmark will provide its existing F-16 training facilities, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said her country would provide the aircraft.⁴
• The new training facility in Romania, which joined NATO in 2004 and has boosted defense spending since the war began, will aim to make the nation "a regional leader in the field of F-16 pilot training." Meanwhile, Moscow has warned that providing Ukraine with F-16s would be a "colossal risk."²
• Reznikov added that supplying Ukraine with F-16s would help protect his country's "infrastructure, critical objects, our schools, our universities." While NATO leaders agreed that the alliance was critical to helping Ukraine fight, it has yet to welcome the country into the bloc.¹

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Al Jazeera, ³Romania Insider, and ⁴Aviation Week Network.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by RT. If the imperial West thinks supplying more advanced weaponry to Ukraine will deter Russia, it's woefully ignorant. All this does is push NATO closer to a global conflict and put Ukraine at further risk. And, if a direct conflict between other nations and Russia does occur, that still won't deter Moscow from reaching its battlefield goals.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by New York Times. Ukraine can no longer afford to use its Cold War-era fighter jets, as Russia's aircraft have far greater range than their counterparts. While older F-15s and F-16s were great back then and are still handy today, they are no match for generation 4.5 F-16s. Ukraine needs help now, and sending advanced jets is the way to do it.

Predictions