Ukraine has been urged to think about hiring private pilots who have previously flown fighter jets in combat roles as the war rages into the year two.
A highly decorated former US Air Force pilot, Lt. Col. Dan Hampton who was the one of the more “deadliest F-16 pilot” told Voice of America if asked he would fly the fighter jet in Ukraine.
Known as “Two Dogs” he served for 20 years and fought in both Iraq wars, Kosovo and the Persian Gulf and in an interview he gave his thoughts on training F-16 pilots to fight in Ukraine.
Speaking from an Air Force base in Arizona he said that “no one has ever won a war from the air,” Hampton added, “You can’t win a war from the air, but you can lose a war if you don’t control the airspace.”
Read more on Russia-Ukraine war:
Russia constantly ‘blackmails humanity with nuclear weapons’ and the ‘world’s security system will change’
Ukraine receives the first set of four MiG-29 fighter jets along with ‘other components’ risking a wider conflict
Ukrainian soldiers ‘prefer to maim and not kill’ Russians so they ‘will be a burden on the state’ in Russia
Moscow warns they will use ‘absolutely any weapon’ to stop Ukraine re-capturing Crimea
He advised that the Ukrainian government to hire private contractors who have experience flying the F-16s which will buy Kyiv “time” and “help you win the war.”
Hampton added that “I’ll even go myself. You can count on me.”
He described the Ukraine war as a “black and white” issue of “good versus evil” then added that governments who “can provide” services such as supplying F-16s “should.”
He described the Russian Su-35 fighter jets as “junk” and only look “good at air shows” and the F-16 is a multirole air-to-ground and air-to-air.
Dan Hampton, retired US Air Force pilot, says he's ready to go to Ukraine to fly F16 planes and talks about strategic importance of aviation on the battlefield.
Thank you for support!
📹: VoA pic.twitter.com/f1HH2axX2R
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) March 16, 2023
Lt. Col. Hampton has flown 151 sorties from 1986 until 2006 and is the most decorated US pilot since the Vietnam War, VOA reported.
A US Air Force insider also called the Russian Su-35s as “worthless,” but the Ukrainian Air Force still wouldn’t be “out of the woods” against Vladimir Putin’s Air Force.
Slovakia has released a video of the moment when Ukrainian technicians and pilots came to Slovakia to pick up the 4 MiG-29 fighter jets donated by Slovakia
They camera captured the pilots taking off & flying to Ukraine with their new planes
Russia didn’t do anything as expected pic.twitter.com/eQiVYhOZP9
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 23, 2023
The US President Joe Biden recently said that they will not provide Ukraine with warplanes, at the moment, and a bipartisan group of senators are calling on the Pentagon to send Kyiv fighter jets which could “prove to be a game changer on the battlefield,” as per Politico.
On Thursday Slovakia became the first NATO country to send their first four MiG-29 fighter jets and a further nine will follow and Poland has also said they will sending the same warplanes to Ukraine.
Leave a Comment