Canada joins 10 other NATO countries in committing to training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 jets

Defense Minister Anita Anand announced that Canada has joined 10 other NATO allies in training Ukrainian Air Force pilots in the operation and maintenance of US F-16 fighter jets to aid Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia.

Also the defense ministers of Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the UK signed to the joint coalition.

“The parties agree that in order to assist Ukraine in the defense of its airspace, they will form a joint coalition for the training of the Ukrainian Air Force in the operation and maintenance of F-16 fighter aircraft, in accordance with the necessary authorizations and with the possibility to include other types of combat aircraft at a later stage,” the Canadian Department of National Defense (DND) wrote in a rack on July 12.

All signatory countries have agreed to train Ukrainian pilots, technicians and support personnel with “basic capabilities to operate, maintain and maintain” F-16 jets manufactured by the US company Lockheed Martin. The F-16 was first developed in the late 1970s.

“The Coalition’s focus will be on training, but will also be prepared to consider other efforts in due course to ensure Ukraine gains a fully functional F-16 capability,” DND wrote in his statement.

The department added that the coalition’s training of Ukrainian pilots will include providing necessary equipment, trainers and other personnel for F-16 training.

All coalition training activities will take place outside Ukraine.

Training Coalition

When early by reporters on July 12 how many Canadian Forces will be deployed for the training effort, Ms. Anand did not provide details.

“At that point we signed a document,” she told reporters in Vilnius, Lithuania, where she attended the NATO leadership summit.

Ms. Anand added that she has had “additional talks” on the matter with Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak.

“We have more work to do to iron out the specific contributions,” she said. “As I said, the general framework of our contribution to the F-16 coalition will be in training and maintenance and so we need to specify exactly what that entails.”

The federal government also announced just before the NATO leadership summit this week that it will increase the number of CAF members it has stationed in Latvia for “Operation REASSURANCE” in the coming years.

Canada currently has about 800 CAF troops stationed in Latvia for the operation, but that number will soon rise to 2,200, the Prime Minister’s Office said on July 10.

Given the Canadian Army’s current recruitment and retention problems, reporters asked Ms Anand where the additional CAF troops will be sourced from to be stationed in Latvia.

“We will rotate troops through Latvia,” she replied, adding, “At the same time, we are very focused on recruiting, retaining and overall reconstruction of the Canadian Forces.”