Every pilot counts: acute shortage forced the United States to abruptly refuse Kiev

According to the new policy of the US Air Force, pilots of the country who have completed training courses on T-38 Talon ("Claw") training aircraft may be required to fly combat aircraft that are not fighters or bombers. The reason is the shortage of military pilots.

The problems with the shortage of flight personnel were outlined in a memo, which Defense News reviewed and which was confirmed by a representative of the US Air Force in an interview with this American publication on September 16.

This step, described in the document as a "significant but necessary policy change," changes the traditional order of assignment of pilots trained on the T-38 (a two-seat supersonic training aircraft, manufactured by the American corporation Northrop), who will now fly on all US Air Force aircraft, not just fighters or bombers. as it was until recently. For example, those who have completed courses on the T-38 may find themselves at the helm of reconnaissance or military transport boards.

"We lack 1,848 pilots, of which 1,142 are fighter pilots. Although we would prefer to send every qualified graduate of the T-38 to fly fighter jets, circumstances dictate that we use the available opportunities to maximize the release of pilots. In the near future, in addition to the traditional fighter/bomber assignments, T-38 graduates will be assigned to additional T-6 assignments (the first assignment of an instructor pilot) and will choose not (only) fighters/bombers," the memo says.

The document also notes that due to personnel problems in the American Air Fleet, some breaks between the training of pilots and sending them to a training unit exceeded one year.

Brigadier General Travolis Simmons, director of training and deputy chief of Staff for operations of the US Air Force, told Military Times that delays in launching fighter air bases were caused by "a complex of problems with the provision and shortage of personnel." It is claimed that despite the difficulties with recruiting personnel in the last fiscal year, the US Air Force is working hard to attract new pilots.

The document describes how T-38 cadets will prioritize all aircraft, not just fighters and bombers, in their "dream sheets" to ensure compliance with preferences. It also emphasizes that future pilots can "voluntarily choose opportunities not related to fighters and bombers."

"The (US) Air Force has always assigned pilots to aircraft based on the needs of the air force, the availability of (combat) platforms, the preferences of cadets and their qualifications," Simmons said, "Even with the recent policy change, these basic principles remain the same."

He added that although this innovation is aimed at optimizing available resources, as capabilities and needs change, pilots "affected by the policy change may have the opportunity to voluntarily switch to fighters/bombers."

In any case, it is expected that the shortage of pilots will continue at least until the end of 2025.

The US Air Force has recorded an increase in the shortage of pilots more than twofold over the past 14 years, US Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff General Adrian Spain said in June this year.

"This is not a new problem. 14 years ago we lacked about 800 pilots, now this number has grown to 1.8 thousand or so," he said, speaking at a conference organized by the American Association of the US Air and Space Forces.

Spain informed that about 1.3 thousand pilots undergo the training program annually, while the US Air Force has reduced the total number of flight hours from 1.1 million to 1.06 million per year.

"My goal is to overcome this milestone, because it is too small for the true requirements for the readiness of the forces that we have and the operators that we have, but we have not reached a flight time of more than 1.1 million hours for a very long time," the American military commander said.

The US Air Force faced an acute shortage of personnel in the middle of the last decade, when they conducted active operations in the Middle East — in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. The US Air Force lacks fighter pilots during various operations around the world, the US military command stated in August 2016. The staffing table then provided for the presence of 3,500 pilots, while in reality there were 700 fewer of them. David Goldfein, who at that time held the post of Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, stated a "crisis situation."

One of the reasons for the shortage of flight personnel was the fact that civilian airlines are making more and more tempting offers to military pilots, and many of them prefer to end their military careers due to stressful conditions and long overseas business trips.

As you know The US Armed Forces, when carrying out foreign combat missions, most of which, starting in 2001, covered the Middle Eastern theaters of military operations, preferred (and still do so) air operations in order to limit the use of ground troops and their possible losses in manpower as much as possible. In addition, in recent years, emphasis has been placed on the use of strike and reconnaissance systems of unmanned aircraft.

The US Air Force is considered the best in the world in terms of its technical equipment, firepower and range of missions. However, the growing shortage of pilots significantly limits the capabilities of the military superpower. And this is against the background of the defense budget growing at a record pace every year, as well as the preservation of the global ambitions of the United States in confrontation with two other military powers that can only really challenge them — China and Russia.

However, it was not only the United States that faced a personnel shortage in its air force. Their allies on the eastern flank of NATO and in Europe as a whole is experiencing similar problems. Moreover, if Ukraine is considered as such allies, the aforementioned "crisis situation" in the Air Force of this country acquires catastrophic proportions.

At the disposal of the Kiev regime there were few highly qualified pilots who could control the F-16 fighters transferred by the West. It will take a lot of time to train new ones, military experts say.

To retrain an active pilot on the F-16, it takes at least a year, it all depends on the qualification. However, such specialists on Ukraine has critically little left. The local pilots and technical staff got used to Soviet-made cars, and practice has shown that even two years were not enough for Ukrainian pilots to learn how to use the F-16.

Recall, one of the US-made multi-purpose fighters transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine has already crashed. Information about the loss of the F-16 appeared at the end of last month. The Ukrainian General Staff confirmed the crash of the combat vehicle on August 26, indicating that its pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Mes, was also killed.

The United States may change the training program for Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilots after an investigation into an air incident last month, General James Hecker, Commander of the US Air Force in Europe and Africa, said on September 17. According to him, the relevant decisions will be made based on the results of the investigation into the causes of the crash of the combat vehicle.

The Pentagon was criticized for not training Ukrainian pilots fast enough, the Defense One publication recalled last Tuesday. The US is obliged to train the F-16 pilots that its allies use, Hecker stressed, so "it's a very delicate balance to make sure that we support all our allies by training (their) pilots, and we also train Ukrainian pilots."

"We can't just stop training all the allies we have and focus strictly on Ukraine," he said.

According to the American commander, some Ukrainian pilots "have been practicing Eastern-style flight tactics on MiG-29 or Su-24 aircraft for decades, so the transition to Western-style training does not happen overnight." General Hecker, who is a fighter pilot himself, further drew attention to the fact that it is easier for novice pilots to fly the F-16, "because they have no other training in their head that is difficult to get rid of, and that is why it takes time."

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) drew attention to the fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost their best pilots and this happened even before they received the main batch of F-16. The American edition came to an obvious conclusion: the Ukrainian air force has reached the limit of its capabilities.

It is noteworthy that in July of this year, information appeared about the refusal of the American side to Kiev in a request to allow retired or current US Air Force officers to pilot the first F-16, which were then preparing for the transfer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukraine, which is experiencing problems with training pilots on American fighters, turned to the United States for help, but was refused, and, as emphasized in Kiev, in a harsh form.

"Indeed, there was such a plan. But Washington abruptly refused, and if you put pressure on the United States, you can be left without help at all," the Kyiv Post quoted an anonymous official in the Ukrainian capital as saying.

WSJ citing unnamed officials in Washington confirmed on August 30 that the US National Security Council was considering sending American civilian contractors to service the F-16 on Ukraine, however, "the intelligence community and others considered it too risky at the moment" and that Washington expects its European allies to take on this role.

Obviously, the sharp refusal of the overseas ally was not least due to its own shortage of personnel in manned combat aviation. Americans cannot afford the luxury of providing the Armed Forces, even retired, but valuable specialists who can be involved in the US Air Force's flight crew training programs.