Exclusive: Inside Ukraine’s Secret Effort to Train Pilots for U.S. Fighter Jets

The training center consisted of two rooms, the walls covered with photos of the A-10 Warthog alongside a couple of posters that said, “Keep calm and kill Soviet tanks.” The director of the training center introduced himself and led a tour of the facility, asking that his name not appear in print. Russian President Vladimir Putin “only understands force,” he says. “So give us the instruments, and we will deal with him. The A-10 Thunderbolt would be a decisive instrument, he says. “If we have that instrument, you will see the difference in the number of targets we’d be able to hit. You’d see that in the weakening of their offensive positions. And you’d see that in the confidence of our infantry in moving from defense to offense,” he says.

Around the room, five Ukrainian pilots underwent training on the simulators. Were it not for all the uniformed personnel, the scene could have been mistaken for a gaming convention. Each station had a realistic throttle, flight stick and VR goggles linked up to computer towers that gave off a technicolor glow. None of the gear was classified, and most of the components came from a niche of the gaming community that builds flight simulators for fun.

For more on Ukraine's secret effort to train pilots: https://ti.me/3T0hpIx
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