How Quickly Can Ukrainians Learn to Fly F-16s? Ask Taiwan

Ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Taiwanese officials have studied the war for lessons that might apply to a potential Chinese invasion of the island. But when it comes to F-16 fighter jets – which the U.S. has now cleared for use in Ukraine – Taiwan has its own experience to share.

Nearly three decades ago, Taiwan purchased 150 F-16s from the U.S., and it is now awaiting 66 more that were approved under the Trump administration. Once those arrive, Taiwan will have one of the largest fleets of F-16s in the world. More than 500 Taiwanese have undergone F-16 training on U.S. bases since the 1990s, Air Force Lt. Col. Joel Harper told The Messenger.

Taiwan wants F-16s to defend against a potential invasion; in Ukraine, they have been pledged in response to one. Officials in both Ukraine and Taiwan lobbied for the planes because of their speed, advanced radar systems, and utility in offensive and defensive operations. And in both cases, F-16s have become a contentious symbol of U.S. military support in the eyes of their authoritarian neighbors.  

One fundamental difference involves training — and time. Taiwanese Air Force pilots receive at least six months of F-16 training before they are considered qualified to operate the planes – and years of additional training to achieve mastery. Now, because of the urgency in Ukraine, training on F-16s may last only a few months. Experts say the Taiwan example shows the challenges Ukraine may face as it rushes to deploy the planes in a complex battlefield environment.    

F-16s then and now: A source of tension

The initial F-16 sales to Taiwan were authorized by President George H.W. Bush in 1992, as part of the U.S. commitment to arm Taiwan for its self-defense. The decision was controversial; some within the administration feared the sales would antagonize China, and the announcement drew a harsh response from Beijing. 

“The actions taken by the U.S. side have undermined the basis of Sino-U.S. relations,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said at the time. But the stakes were lower then; the Chinese military was far weaker than it is today and U.S.-China relations were less fraught.

By 2019, when President Trump agreed to the sale of 66 new F-16s to Taiwan, the move received bipartisan support in Washington. China’s foreign ministry again reacted strongly, threatening “countermeasures” and ultimately imposing sanctions against U.S. defense companies.

Russia views F-16s in much the same way — as a major provocation by the U.S. and NATO. In May, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Western nations would face “enormous risks” if the planes were delivered to Ukraine. It’s worth noting, however, that Russia has yet to follow through on repeated threats to escalate based on Western shipments of advanced weapons. 

How quickly can Ukrainian pilots learn to fly F-16s? 

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that he hopes the F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots would begin "in the coming weeks" in Europe.  

One key takeaway from Taiwan’s experience: training on F-16s takes time. In May, Yahoo News reported that an internal U.S. Air Force assessment concluded that experienced Ukrainian pilots could be trained on the F-16 in just four months – using a “specialized syllabus only focused on min[imum] required tasks.” In the U.S., pilots transitioning to F-16s go through a nine-month basic course; in Taiwan, pilots receive at least six months of initial F-16 training, according to Shen Ming-Shih, acting deputy chief executive officer at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research. The Taiwanese pilots typically receive years of additional instruction to master more complex maneuvers. 

That’s where U.S. training comes in. Taiwanese pilots with strong English skills have been dispatched to an Arizona Air Force base where they get up to two years in advanced combat training on F-16s, according to the Air Force. A 2019 State Department notification to Congress about the program said, “The training provides a ‘capstone’ course that takes experienced pilots and significantly improves their tactical proficiency.”  

“Training with the American fighter jets is really helpful for Taiwan’s flight skills and tactical training,” Shen said.

The problem for the Ukrainians: they have no time for that kind of intensive training. 

“To think that someone can go from none of this training to four months training, and that’s going to be combat capable, I think that's expecting a lot,” Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Messenger. Peter Layton, a fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute and former Royal Australian Air Force officer, told CNN that while basic training could be achieved in a few months, learning how to fly in a “dynamic threat environment” would take years.

The dangers

Mastering the F-16 isn’t just challenging; it can also be dangerous. Kavanagh pointed to a series of fatal F-16 crashes the Taiwanese Air Force has suffered: One Taiwanese pilot died in 2016 during air-to-air combat training in Arizona; another died in 2018 during Taiwan’s annual military exercises when his F-16 hit a mountain in low visibility; a third disappeared during a night flight in 2020 and was presumed dead; and a fourth was killed in a crash during training off Taiwan’s west coast in 2022.

Given these dangers, and the urgency for the Ukrainians, Kavanagh suggested their training be focused on very specific uses of the F-16s.

“I think the implications then for the U.S. and allies, as you think about training the Ukrainian pilots, is thinking carefully about how Ukraine is going to use the planes because there are many choices -- you could use them for long-range strikes, you can use them for air defense support, so think about how they're going to be used and train them really specifically for those tasks rather than just giving them some sort of generalized training.”