France Completes Training of First Group of Ukrainian Pilots on Alphajet Aircraft

The French Armed Forces have announced the completion of training of the first group of Ukrainian pilots who trained on Alphajet aircraft.

This is reported by the European Parliament.

The French Armed Forces have declared their strong support for Ukraine's military efforts.

“France has just completed training of the first group of Ukrainian pilots on Alphajet aircraft,” the French Armed Forces said in a statement on the X social network (Twitter).

It was noted there that the French Air Force center has been training pilots to meet the operational needs of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry since March 2024.

The French Air Force has committed to training 26 Ukrainian pilots in two years. However, the media reported that 10 pilots have been trained since March. Some of them had never flown, while others had experience flying L-39 Albatros training aircraft.

After several months of training in the UK, including learning English, the group of pilots arrived in France in March this year, where they began theoretical and practical training.

The pilots are trained on modified Alphajet jet trainers donated by Belgium. They are equipped with an instrument panel simulating the one in the F-16 fighter jets.

To ensure proper operation of these aircraft and the start of training flights, the French Aerospace Force had to stop the process of decommissioning them at the last minute.

After completing their training, the Ukrainian pilots were reportedly supposed to go to a training center in Romania.

A week ago, it became known that the first group of Ukrainian pilots began theoretical training on F-16 fighter jets in Romania, and could move on to practical training in the next few months.

The media wrote that the pilots from Ukraine would pilot the F-16 trainers donated to Romania by the Netherlands. This should allay concerns about Russia's threats to destroy NATO planes flying to Ukraine.

Prepared by: Nina Petrovich