The training of an F-16 pilot is a long and expensive process. The United States has a queue of applicants from other countries. However, delays for Ukraine are more about political will than technical limitations.

These planes are worth the wait – F-16s have advantages that Russian pilots cannot counter. This will allow the Defense Forces to control Ukrainian airspace successfully. In the beginning, it might only be certain zones of dominance, warns retired US Air Force Colonel Jeffrey Fischer in an interview with LIGA.net.

Fischer has 30 years of experience, having participated in NATO operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He served at the US Air Force headquarters, was a senior advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, a defense attaché at the US Embassy in Pristina, Kosovo, and an assistant commander of the NATO Special Operations Headquarters.

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