Originally Posted by
Ninthace
I wonder how many ground crew and logisticians to keep say, 12, F-16s refuelled, rearmed and maintained and how many of those would have to be trained to type?
I'm by no means downplaying the logistical challenges of supporting a western/NATO aircraft type being integrated into Ukraine's air force. However, many military personnel will be familiar with the concept of Cross-Servicing within NATO; a training course of a week or less was sufficient to perform ground handling, refuelling, turnaround-servicing and rearming of a wide range of allied combat aircraft, including F-16.
With regard to deeper maintenance and troubleshooting, it only requires a small percentage of type-rated engineers to direct an existing skilled workforce of technicians, many of whom will already be familiar with civilian aircraft of American and western-European origin.