[Goose]

Wishcasting IMHO. 

Ukraine is sending 50 year olds into infantry assault squads. I don't think they have spare pilots and maintenance crew who speak English sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting to be trained.

I agree, Ukraine doesn't have anybody who wants/is willing to fight sitting around twiddling anything. Manpower is one of their main current military and political challenges. That doesn't mean there are no 19-22 year old people who would be willing to go learn to fly jets. Some of those might be recruits who were in the Ukrainian air force for "basic flight training" but were subsequently sent to fight as infantry because there was no way to continue their training. The Ukraine certainly had a training pipeline before the war started. Find those guys and send them to Luke or Morris or Holloman or JBSA. Some of those might even be younger people who fled the country but still want to help Ukraine. They may not be willing to be an 11B but will gladly be pilots. These people will take time to train because they will need initial flight training and transition to jets like the two in Canada are doing. I think the Ukrainian military believes they can't win without an air force, so they will find a way. It isn't by itself a big manpower drain. A typical F-16 squadron will have a total of around 100 personnel, including pilots, maintenance crew, and support staff (and 12-15 jets). That is less than a company. If they can't find that many, they are doomed anyway. One thing that IMO needs to be made clear is that this is both a short and longer term requirement. Don't insist that everybody be a fully qualified MIG/Sukhou pilot. As has been pointed out, that can be a hindrance.

And I'd suggest reading the article. It goes into more about Fetesti.

A bit more, but not much more. IMO the only thing it says that is particularly "interesting" (and that illustrates the startup issues) IMO is

“That’s up to the governments and the contracts that support all that,” said Col. Bill Thomas, a retired U.S. Air Force officer who is overseeing a Lockheed Martin training program for the Romanian pilots at the Fetesti base. “We’re still waiting on all the approvals.”

I read that as Lockheed wants to get paid and so do all the other "players", like EADS (though God knows what they contribute). There is also the little matter that the 7 Romanian pilots have not "graduated" yet. The "normal" F-16 syllabus takes 9 months to learn. They started in November, so they have a bit of a way to go :-). I don't see the course taking "shortcuts" with the first graduates.
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/20...es-ukraine.

https://www.luke.af.mil/News/Article-Dis...s-mission/ is perhaps a bit dated but it details the path from beginning flight training to being F-16 qualified. Another is https://theaviationist.com/2024/01/21/vi...-training/. Holloman trains 180 F-16 pilots a year. It takes 22 months from start to finish. The war in Ukraine has so far lasted 24+. They could have started with complete novices and said pilots would be ready now.

[Goose]

Wishcasting IMHO. 

Ukraine is sending 50 year olds into infantry assault squads. I don't think they have spare pilots and maintenance crew who speak English sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting to be trained.

I agree, Ukraine doesn't have anybody who wants/is willing to fight sitting around twiddling anything. Manpower is one of their main current military and political challenges. That doesn't mean there are no 19-22 year old people who would be willing to go learn to fly jets. Some of those might be recruits who were in the Ukrainian air force for "basic flight training" but were subsequently sent to fight as infantry because there was no way to continue their training. The Ukraine certainly had a training pipeline before the war started. Find those guys and send them to Luke or Morris or Holloman or JBSA. Some of those might even be younger people who fled the country but still want to help Ukraine. They may not be willing to be an 11B but will gladly be pilots. These people will take time to train because they will need initial flight training and transition to jets like the two in Canada are doing. I think the Ukrainian military believes they can't win without an air force, so they will find a way. It isn't by itself a big manpower drain. A typical F-16 squadron will have a total of around 100 personnel, including pilots, maintenance crew, and support staff (and 12-15 jets). That is less than a company. If they can't find that many, they are doomed anyway. One thing that IMO needs to be made clear is that this is both a short and longer term requirement. Don't insist that everybody be a fully qualified MIG/Sukhou pilot. As has been pointed out, that can be a hindrance.

And I'd suggest reading the article. It goes into more about Fetesti.

A bit more, but not much more. IMO the only thing it says that is particularly "interesting" (and that illustrates the startup issues) IMO is

“That’s up to the governments and the contracts that support all that,” said Col. Bill Thomas, a retired U.S. Air Force officer who is overseeing a Lockheed Martin training program for the Romanian pilots at the Fetesti base. “We’re still waiting on all the approvals.”

I read that as Lockheed wants to get paid and so do all the other "players", like EADS (though God knows what they contribute). There is also the little matter that the 7 Romanian pilots have not "graduated" yet. The "normal" F-16 syllabus takes 9 months to learn. They started in November, so they have a bit of a way to go :-). I don't see the course taking "shortcuts" with the first graduates.
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/20...es-ukraine.

https://www.luke.af.mil/News/Article-Dis...s-mission/ is perhaps a bit dated but it details the path from beginning flight training to being F-16 qualified. Another is https://theaviationist.com/2024/01/21/vi...-training/. Holloman trains 180 F-16 pilots a year. It takes 22 months from start to finish. The war in Ukraine has so far lasted 24+. They could have started with complete novices and said pilots would be ready now.