Flight International 2023 08.pdf

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FlightGlobal.com
August 2023
Airbus
marks five
years of the A220
SkyCourier’s
military utility
p16
New radars for UK
Typhoons
p30
Fighter club
Allies line up to support Ukraine’s F-16 advance
p6
Sales lift
When airliner
orders started
soaring again
p10
Safety first
Can carriers
prevent more
fatal errors?
p48
£5.99
Comment
Worth waiting for
Jakub Porzycki/NutPhoto/Shutterstock
Wheels in motion
Ukraine’s journey towards NATO membership has been
boosted by a ‘fighter coalition’ offering pilot training for F-16s
– but don’t expect a transfer of such aircraft to end the war
A
s Ukraine’s heroic defence
against Russian invasion
reaches the 18-month mark,
Kyiv has at last received a
boost in its conflict-long quest to
acquire Western combat aircraft.
NATO’s annual summit in Vilnius,
Lithuania was the venue for an
11-nation “fighter coalition” to join
forces and pledge to train Ukrain-
ian air force personnel to fly and
maintain the Lockheed Martin F-16.
“F-16s will protect Ukraine’s skies
and NATO’s eastern flank,” says
Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii
Reznikov, anticipating an expected
subsequent donation of second-
hand jets. “The Ukrainian air force is
prepared to master them as quickly
as possible,” he adds.
Training activities could begin as
soon as August, with the work to
initially be performed in Denmark,
before later expanding to use a
base in Romania.
For an experienced Ukrainian
pilot with an operational back-
ground flying the RAC MiG-29,
the process of gaining basic
competence on the F-16 could
take around six months – by which
time more will be known about the
nations likely to be in line to trans-
fer aircraft to Kyiv.
Already transitioning their fight-
er fleets to the Lockheed F-35,
Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands
and Norway are potential candi-
dates to make such a donation.
Having previously acted as a
barrier to any such fighter transfer,
the US government now seems
to be in at least loose formation
with the 11-nation group, but has
stopped short of joining ranks.
Bear in mind though that Wash-
ington initially also was reluctant
to supply Kyiv with defence equip-
ment including precision-guid-
ed munitions, cruise missiles and
Patriot air-defence batteries, be-
fore yielding to international pres-
sure and the requests of Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The introduction of an undis-
closed number of donated F-16s
will not determine the eventual
outcome of this war, where neither
Ukraine or Russia is able to assert
air dominance over the battle-
field. Indeed, Moscow’s air-defence
systems and long-range air-to-air
missile threat will in all likelihood
keep the advanced jets well away
from the front line.
A transfer would, however, have a
much stronger symbolic meaning,
and underscore NATO’s long-term
commitment to supporting Ukraine
and its population.
The Ukrainian air force will be able
to restore and maintain credible
combat mass, after losing around
half of its pre-war combat aircraft
during the conflict’s first year. By
contrast, Russia’s estimated below
three-digit comparable airframe
losses mean that there are more
than 1,000 assets still available to
its air force, which remains wary of
venturing inside Ukrainian territory.
While this for now falls short of
offering Zelensky a firm date for
Ukraine to join the military alliance
– which is already poised to expand
to 32 nations with the addition of
Sweden from later this year – it rep-
resents a clear statement of intent.
“We
have
reaffirmed
that
Ukraine will become a member
of the alliance and we have made
decisions to bring Ukraine closer to
NATO,” says the alliance’s secretary
general Jens Stoltenberg.
By providing trained pilots
and a valued and capable West-
ern model in the F-16, the fighter
coalition partners will make sure
that Ukraine is ready and able to
join formation with its allies when
its day of accession comes.
◗
See p6
August 2023
Flight International
3
In focus
Fighter coalition to train
Ukrainian F-16 pilots
6
Airbus clear on export role
for UK H175M plant
8
Airframers gain momentum
10
Ecojet bets on green appeal
15
UK funds Excalibur testbed
16
American and JetBlue
unwind Northeast Alliance
20
F135 powers through spat
22
ALPA calls on federal regulators
to close Part 135 ‘loophole’
26
Testing times for Airbus
Helicopters
28
UK advances Typhoon
radar project
30
Five years an Airbus
32
D328eco gathers pace
40
62
Going electric
The future of commuter aircraft?
FlightGlobal.com
August 2023
Airbus
marks five
years of the A220
28
£5.99
SkyCourier’s
military utility
p16
New radars for UK
Typhoons
p30
AirTeamImages
Fighter club
Allies line up to support Ukraine’s F-16 advance
p6
Sales lift
When airliner
orders started
soaring again
p10
Safety first
Can carriers
prevent more
fatal errors?
p48
Regulars
Comment
3
Best of the rest
44
Straight & Level
76
Letters
78
Women in aviation
82
4
Flight International
August 2023
Contents
In depth
Hopeful signs
48
There was only one fatal
accident in the first six months
of 2023. Is this an anomaly?
Close calls
56
Air traffic control infrastructure
in the US is struggling to cope
Still a mystery
60
Tupolev Tu-144 crash at the
1973 Paris air show is one of
the most puzzling disasters
Regional promise
62
Can developers meet demand
for low-emission flights?
Fuel throttle?
66
What’s next as the USAF’s
KC-135 tankers near retirement?
Rotary genius
72
Remembering Igor Sikorsky’s
extraordinary contribution
to the helicopter industry
32
72
48
August 2023
Flight International
5

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