(MENAFN- UkrinForm) The National Guard still has enough money on hand to complete the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets despite the U.S. running out of funds to send additional weapons and assistance to Kyiv.
According to Ukrinform, this was stated by the head of the US National Guard, General Dan Hokanson, the Associated Press reported .
President Joe Biden announced in August that the U.S. would begin training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16, as part of a multi-national effort to provide Ukraine the advanced fighter jets. Pilot training began in October at Morris Air National Guard base in Tucson, Ariz. Since then, the Ukraine war fund that the U.S. has used to send billions of dollars in other weapons systems and assistance to Ukraine has run out of money.
The lack of funding has meant the U.S. has not been able to send any new weapons packages to Ukraine despite a brutal bombardment campaign by Russia. But the pilot training has been able to continue, Hokanson said.
“We do have the resources to continue the training that's already started,” Hokanson said, and get that initial tranche completed this year.“If we decide to increase that obviously we'll need the resources to train additional pilots and ground support personnel”, he said.
Read also: Ukraine's Air Force reveals criteria for selecting future F-16
pilots As reported, on Thursday the upper house of the US Congress managed to gather the necessary number of votes to move on to consider legislation on aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan totaling $95 billion.
The bill provides for more than $60 billion in support for Ukraine, as well as approximately $35 billion in aid to Israel and other US allies.
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