 Ukrainian pilots could begin training to fly US-manufactured F-16 fighter jets as soon as this summer. The Dutch defense minister has told Reuters, a first step toward supplying Kiev with a powerful, long-term capability in its war with Russia. NATO allies the Netherlands and Denmark are leading an international coalition to train pilots and support staff, maintain aircraft and ultimately supply F-16s to Ukraine. Previously, the Netherlands had said it aimed to start training Ukrainian pilots as soon as possible, but had stopped short of specifying when such training could get underway. This summer is our ambition and we'll see if that's realistic for the start of the training program. Dutch defense minister Keesa Ollingren told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. She said the aim would be to have the training program fully operational within six months. So having air superiority is essential I think for Ukraine in the future to be able to deter Russia from trying this again. And having the capability that we're starting working on now with training of the Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 would of course greatly add to the strength of the Ukrainian Air Force in the future. The training, well that's a good question, what the training involves exactly because we don't know yet. As I said it will comprise of academic training so they need to go in school I would say. It's going to be language training, it's going to be simulator training where they learn how to deal with different subsystems in the airplane.