New Ukrainian Air Force pilots graduate
October 25, 2024
The Royal Air Force is playing a crucial role in training the next generation of Ukrainian Air Force pilots, as part of a wider Air Force Capability Coalition, and the latest course of eight Ukrainian pilots formally graduated from RAF Elementary Flying Training on 22 October, in a ceremony attended by Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard and Ukrainian Ambassador General Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
Ukrainian pilots undertake a 50 flying hour Elementary Flying Training (EFT) phase in the UK, flying the Grob 115E Tutor, with RAF flying instructors. The overall training package encompasses basic flying, ground school, and language skills, and marks a critical step in preparing Ukrainian pilots to fly Western aircraft, such as the F-16 and Mirage 2000 fighters now being supplied.
Initially, Ukrainian pilots were taught English before learning to fly, but they now do both together. “We contextualised the English language within the confines of the cockpit and that accelerated their learning very quickly,” explained Air Vice Marshal Ian ‘Cab’ Townsend, the Air Officer Commanding 22 Group, the RAF’s flying training organisation.
The Ukrainians are not being trained alongside RAF students, and follow a different syllabus, using a different aircraft type. Ukrainian students are flying the Grob Tutor (which is otherwise used for University Air Squadron elementary flying training and cadet air experience flying) rather than the Grob 120TP Prefect. The course includes aviation medicine aspects, and some advanced conceptual and tactical air power studies.
Operation Interstorm required a different way of working, and the RAF and its industry partner Babcock collaboratively established a new operating model that could successfully and quickly provide trained pilots into the Ukrainian fast jet training pipeline. Chloe Barker, the Managing Director of Babcock’s UK aviation business, said: “We have been working with the RAF in delivering flying training for over 20 years, but this required a new approach to planning and a restructuring of the way we allocate and resource our Grob 115E aircraft. The results were an even higher level of aircraft availability.”
While RAF trainee pilots move from EFTS to the Raytheon T-6 Texan for basic flying training, before advanced flying training on the BAE Systems Hawk, the Ukrainian pilots move straight on to advanced fast jet training in France for the second part of their training, flying the Alpha Jet.
Including the course of eight who graduated on 22 October, the RAF has now trained 24 pilots. The first ten completed their training in March 2024. This is a rather smaller number than was claimed by Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard, who wrote in a Tweet: “Did you know the UK has now trained 200 Ukrainian pilots?”
In total, some 45,000 members of Ukrainian armed forces have now received training from the UK in an arrangement which has been extended by the government for a further year.
Not all of the pilots being trained are ‘ab initio’, the prize-winning student on the latest Operation Interstorm course, known only by his Ukrainian callsign ‘Skipper’, was already a fast jet pilot in Ukraine. This reflects the absolute necessity of retraining Ukrainian pilots ‘from the ground up’ if they are to get the best from their new aircraft.
Air Vice Marshal Ian ‘Cab’ Townsend, the Air Officer Commanding 22 Group, said that the progression of the Ukrainian pilots had been “absolutely incredible,” and that they had displayed exemplary dedication and commitment: “They have come on extraordinarily well and their pilot skills are absolutely superb for this stage of the training.”
Townsend said that: “Today is the culmination of some outstanding collaboration that demonstrates the agility of the RAF to support our Ukrainian friends. There is a stalemate on the ground with trench warfare because no side has dominance in the air. We’re enabling them to protect themselves from above. It’s both exciting and deeply humbling that these young men have that role for their country.”
Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, expressed a heartfelt thank you to the United Kingdom for what he called its unwavering support, and promised that: “We will fly and fight and win.”
Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard paid tribute to the Ukrainian pilots for their readiness to put themselves “on the frontline for freedom and security in Europe.” The Minister said that the event was: “one graduation I wish I wasn’t attending, [because] I wish the people of Ukraine were not forced to defend their homeland against unprovoked attacks and unimaginable loss on a daily basis.”
The UK Government has committed £3 Bn for military support to support this year and remains fully committed to supporting Ukraine into the future for “as long as it takes.”
Operation Interstorm will continue to help support the development of a resilient and capable Ukrainian Air Force, ready to defend their nation’s sovereignty, sufficiently prepared and well-equipped to face ongoing challenges.
