Ukraine plans to hire retired foreign pilots to fly Western fighter jets and fight against Russia.

American politician Lindsey Graham stated this after a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The government will look for retired pilots from NATO countries to fly the transferred F-16s until Ukrainian pilots complete their training.

“If you’re a retired F-16 pilot and you’re looking to fight for freedom, they will hire you here. They’re going to look throughout NATO nations for willing fighter pilots who retired to come help them until they can get their pilots trained. We are looking for pilots who will fight for freedom,” Graham said.

The critical need for experienced pilots is related to the pace of training of Ukrainian personnel and pilots, which is not keeping pace with the plans to transfer fighter jets.

At the same time, the already trained pilots will be adapting and practicing cooperation inside the country, performing air defense tasks, and will not appear near the front line for a long time.

Serhii Holubtsov, Chief of Aviation of Ukrainian Air Force, in particular, said that it would take a long time to get the F-16s into combat operations, and that everything would happen in three stages. At the first stage, the pilots will perform air defense tasks inland, then drive Russian frontline aircraft away from the front line, and then begin to conquer the airspace.

“In a nutshell, it sounds like this: crawl, walk, run. We have not yet learned to crawl. When the planes arrive, we will realize that we have learned to crawl somewhere in the country, we will try what these planes can do, learn, get used to it, and master the space that is relatively safe,” says Holubtsov, speaking about the use of aircraft for air defense in the country’s rear. “Then we will continue to walk, and when we learn to walk, we will run.”

The involvement of experienced Western pilots during this period will make it possible to compensate for the time gap and quickly organize the capabilities necessary to perform complex combat missions.

Previously, this initiative was publicly supported by some retired pilots. In particular, in March 2023, retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Dan Hampton said he was “ready to fly the plane for the Ukrainian military himself, if necessary.”

Hampton, 58, known as “the deadliest F-16 pilot in the world,” spent 20 years in the Air Force, flying 151 combat missions from 1986 to 2006. He fought in the wars in the Persian Gulf, Kosovo and Iraq.

However, the growing fleet of Western fighter jets and the extensive network of airfields also require ground maintenance and repair personnel. Perhaps the Ukrainian military will look for such specialists outside the country as well.