Denmark has trained the first 50 Ukrainian specialists to service F-16 fighter jets, which will soon be put into service with the Ukrainian Air Force.

Major General Jan Dam, Commander of the Royal Danish Air Force, said this in an interview with TV2.

According to him, most of them have already returned to Ukraine to prepare to receive the first fighter jets at Ukrainian air bases.

The major general said that the next group of 50 Ukrainians would also start training soon.

He added that the first group of Ukrainian pilots was still being trained. They are currently learning to fly at night.

In general, the program for training Ukrainian pilots is designed for six to eight months.

In June, the Danish defense minister announced that by the end of this year, Denmark would stop training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

Poulsen explained that the training of Ukrainian pilots would stop because Denmark was switching to F-35 fighter jets. The new planes will be deployed at the Skrydstrup air base, where Ukrainian pilots are currently training.

Denmark will continue to contribute to the training of Ukrainian pilots, but this will not take place in the country.

F-16s from Denmark

As previously reported, in August 2023, Denmark announced that it planned to transfer 19 aircraft to F-16, which in the 2000s had been upgraded under the Mid-Life Update (MLU) program.

Future Ukrainian fighters during the MLU program underwent significant repairs and received, in particular, a more modern AN/APG-66(V)2 radar.

Volodymyr Zelenskyi recently said that the first Danish F-16s would arrive in Ukraine in the near future.