Poland and Belgium are ready to train Ukrainian pilots on the F-16s

Poland and Belgium might undertake the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said that his country is ready to support the training for these aircraft.

Poland also might continue transferring MiG-29 fighter aircraft to Ukraine but is not ready to transfer F-16s since the country does not have a lot of them.

“We have a relatively very small number of F-16s. We are ready to support the process of training Ukrainian pilots – I discussed this with the Prime Minister, the Minister of National Defense some time ago. But the number of F-16 fighter jets we have does not allow us to discuss transferring some of them to Ukraine today,” he said.

Currently, a modern training center is being created in Poland to train pilots on American fighter jets. In December, Elbit Systems signed a $36 million contract to supply four full-flight simulators for Poland.

Belgium is also ready to train Ukrainian pilots to fly American fighter jets.

The Office of the Prime Minister of Belgium and the Office of the President of Ukraine announced this.

“We need fighter jets, and we thank the allies for their decision to work in this direction. In particular, Belgium has also confirmed its willingness to train pilots,” Andrii Yermak said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the F16 issue with the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte.

“During the summit in Hague earlier this month, the F-16 issue was also discussed during a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Prime Minister. We said that we cannot supply planes, but we can train pilots,” the Belgian Prime Minister’s office said.

As previously reported, the UK and the Netherlands have agreed to develop an “international coalition” to help purchase F-16s for Ukraine.

However, the decision to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets depends on the United States of America.