training of Ukrainian pilots on French soil is progressing

Twenty-six Ukrainian pilots will be trained by the French military before the end of 2024. Ten are already in training on a secret base in the south of France. Reporting in the cockpits, alongside instructors and trainees.

On June 6, the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, Emmanuel Macron announced that France would provide Mirage 2000-5 fighter planes, before the end of 2024, to Ukraine, to strengthen its air assets against Russia . Protecting Ukraine from the air: after sending Mamba anti-aircraft systems and Crotale missiles, France also committed, in 2023, to training Ukrainian pilots. This training began for ten of them, on a secret base in the south of France.

In the Alpha Jet, a French instructor at the rear of the cockpit, and at the front a young Ukrainian soldier. The training of these Ukrainian pilots constitutes a real challenge: only six months to be immediately sent into combat. Half as much as a French pilot.

These pilots are between 20 and 22 years old. Training began for them in Great Britain with learning English and the basics of fighter piloting. It now continues in France with a passage on Alpha Jet, the plane of the French patrol. An ideal relay between the propeller plane and the F16 type fighter plane that the Ukrainian pilots are required to direct. The trainees will learn the particularities of the F16 during the third phase of their training, probably in Romania.

“Our training is versatile, the tactical methods applied will be exactly the same. There, we are very close to what the F16 does and it is also very close to what we can find on a Mirage 2000”, explains an instructor. The aim of French training, “it’s that they have learned as much as possible so that they only have to add what is specific to the F16 or the Mirage when they go to a transformation squadron”continues the trainer.

“Here, we will give them all the bases: apply procedures, operate in a tactical situation, know how to react when we have a breakdown.”

a flight instructor

at franceinfo

On the program for this intensive training: 80 hours of flight, 50 hours of simulator time with experienced instructors. The trainers teach them the Western method, far from the Russian standards, inherited from the Soviet era, used by the Ukrainian army.

“Russian methods are not very autonomous. They are largely based on information from ground controllers, who have radar stations to be able to guide their planes”, explains the instructor. Methods that are the opposite of what Westerners do, even if “we of course rely on information provided by AWACS type aircraft or ground controllers, but we must truly develop the autonomy of our trainees and this is where the challenge lies for their future training”concludes the soldier.

In total, 26 Ukrainians will be trained on this secret base.