A Romanian F-16 Fighting Falcon lands at Borcea Air Base, Romania, in October 2021, during operation Castle Forge. An F-16 training center will be set up at Borcea, a joint effort between Lockheed Martin and the governments of Romania and Poland. It could eventually host Ukrainian trainees. (Andrew Layton/U.S. Air Force)
STUTTGART, Germany — A new training center for F-16 pilots will be launched in Romania, which could eventually host Ukrainian aviators learning to fly the American warplane, officials said this week.
The initiative, which has been in the works for several months, is a joint effort between Lockheed Martin and the governments of Romania and the Netherlands. An opening date hasn’t been announced.
The center will be located at a Romanian base in Borcea, about 50 miles west of the Black Sea air base at Mihail Kogalniceanu that serves as a hub for U.S. forces in Romania.
“We will train pilots from Ukraine, provided they express their wish,” Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar said Friday.
U.S. F-15E Strike Eagles from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina taxi alongside Romanian F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft during training at Borcea Air Base, Romania, in October 2021. An F-16 training center will be set up at the air base and could eventually host Ukrainian trainees. ( Andrew Layton/U.S. Air Force)
Still, any training of Ukrainian troops on the base will take time, Tilvar told the Defense Romania news outlet. In the meantime, the training of Romanian pilots will be the top priority, he said.
OJ Sanchez, a Lockheed vice president, said the center will initially focus on ensuring the effectiveness of Romanians flying the F-16, but eventually other nations will be incorporated.
“Once details are finalized, we are confident the training center will ultimately benefit Romania and other regional F-16 operators, including potentially Ukraine,” Sanchez said in a statement Thursday.
The F-16 is used by numerous countries in the NATO alliance. The aircraft also has been at the top of Ukraine’s wish list for weaponry in its fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began Feb. 24, 2022.
The Netherlands and Denmark have been leading NATO efforts to lay the groundwork for training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16s and delivery of the aircraft to Kyiv.
For months, the U.S. wavered on whether to back Ukraine’s push for the warplane. But earlier this month, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. was giving the green light to allies to deliver it.
The Netherlands and Denmark have pledged around 60 F-16s to Kyiv, though the U.S. has not offered any of its own.
Still, Ukraine is not expected to receive any of the planes until next year, and pilots will need several months of training before being cleared to fly.
The Pentagon said last week that it is ready to assist efforts to prepare Ukrainian pilots, with training in the U.S. expected to begin as early as this month.
