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For NATO pilots trained to fly MiGs, learning to fly the F-35 'is far too much to grasp,' former F-35 test pilot says

US and Dutch F-35As during an exercise over the Netherlands on February 22.
US Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Rachel Maxwell
  • More and more European militaries are buying the F-35 to update their air forces.
  • The arrival of the F-35 means pilots in those air forces have to learn to fly a more advanced jet.
  • A former F-35 test pilot says that isn't an easy change for pilots used to Soviet-made jets.

The F-35 is fast becoming the fighter jet of choice for many European air forces because of its technological and operational advantages over other available airframes.

Eight European countries either operate the fifth-generation fighter jet or have placed orders for it. More countries are in discussions to acquire the jet in the near future.

The increasing number of F-35s in Europe means more pilots will have to learn to fly the jet, but the F-35's technological superiority means some pilots, especially those trained to operate Soviet-made aircraft, could have difficulties making the change.

A generational jump

US F-16s, left, with a Bulgarian air force MiG-29 and a MiG-21 during an exercise over Bulgaria in 2015.
US Air National Guard/Master Sgt. Andrew J. Moseley

Among NATO's 30 members, only Bulgaria, Poland, and Slovakia still operate Soviet-era aircraft.

Of those three, Poland has the most, with 23 operational MiG-29s and 12 operational but obsolescent Su-22s. The rest of Poland's combat fleet consists of 36 US-made F-16s. In 2020, in an effort to modernize its air force, Warsaw ordered 32 F-35As, and it has an option to buy 16 more.

The mix of Western-made and Soviet-origin aircraft reflects Poland's political history as a member of the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War and now as a member of NATO and the European Union.

Yet that mix will also make it harder for Poland to integrate the F-35 into its fleet, according to Billie Flynn, a former Canadian air force lieutenant colonel who served as a senior F-35 test pilot.

US Air Force F-35s at the Ämari air base in Estonia on February 24.
US Air Force

In an interview with The Aviationist, Flynn described ways Polish pilots might struggle to move between the aircraft.

"There's very much the Russian, Eastern Bloc mentality vs. the Western F-16 cadre" in the Polish Air Force, and the pilots in each cadre do not cross between them, Flynn said.

Flynn said any pilot would face a "leap" in transitioning to the F-35, one of only four fifth-generation jets in operation around the world.

He added that F-16 pilots, or the Western cadre, in the Polish Air Force would be able to transition to the newer jet, as many pilots in other air forces with the F-35 have done, but the Polish Air Force's "Eastern Bloc" of pilots wouldn't be as fortunate.

Asking even a very capable MiG-29 pilot "to transition to this cosmic spaceship is far too much to grasp," Flynn said, referring to the F-35.

Differences in mentality

A pilot exiting a Polish Air Force F-16 at Krzesiny Military Airbase in Poznań, Poland, in 2006.
WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP via Getty Images

The F-16 and the MiG-29 are comparable in terms of capabilities.

Though the MiG-29 is primarily an air-superiority fighter and the F-16 a multirole aircraft, both are fourth-generation fighters. The Soviet jet was in fact built as a response to the American F-16 and F-15.

But transitioning from that Soviet-made jet to modern US fighters requires more than learning new capabilities. It also requires adjusting to a different design philosophy, which Flynn argues makes such a transition practically impossible.

"Every part of how we mechanize the aircraft in the West is different from how Russians design their aircraft — every part of philosophy of how you fly an airplane, how you design cockpits, how you process information is different," Flynn told The Aviationist.

In contrast, both the F-16 and the F-35 are designed and built by Lockheed Martin, and Flynn described the stealth fighter as a "logical step forward" from the older aircraft.

"To say to an F-16 pilot, hey, we're Lockheed Martin, and we build the aircraft the certain way, and switches the certain way, and now we're going to give you the next generation of that, there's a logic flow of our design, of the F-16, as the baseline, that kind of looks like what the F-35 is," Flynn said. "That does not exist for the MiG cadre."

The last of their kind

Two Polish MiG-29s and a US F-15E flying alongside a US B-52H on February 24.
US Air Force/Airman 1st Class Zachary Wright

Regardless of whether the MiG-29 pilots can make the jump to the new era, their aircraft are approaching obsolescence.

Poland, Bulgaria, and Slovakia already struggle to keep their MiG-29s up to date. Poland has maintained its MiG-29 contingent on par with that of its F-16, but as time and worsening relations with Russia make replacement airframes and machine parts harder to find, the last three NATO MiG-29 operators are slowly phasing out the aircraft.

"I think the MiG cadre will end up atrophying, spending their time in that jet until the MiG-29 phases out," Flynn said of the Polish Air Force.

With militaries embracing the F-35 and other advanced jets, "there is no place for the MiG-29 pilots in the sophisticated world of" fifth-generation aircraft, he added.

Constantine Atlamazoglou works on transatlantic and European security. He holds a master's degree in security studies and European affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.