RAF LAKENHEATH — Three Ukrainian air force officers circled around an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet on the flight line and inspected it thoroughly. They then posed in front of the lethal jet to capture the moment in a photograph.

“The aircraft is really nothing without the personnel,” Ukrainian air force Col. Andrii Kurishko, said through an interpreter. “It would just be a heap of metal.”

Kurishko and two of his comrades toured Lakenheath last week as part of the Joint Contact Team Program run by the U.S. Embassy in the former Soviet state.

Although the Ukrainians couldn’t sit in the cockpit of the fighter jet because the canopy was closed, Kurishko didn’t mind too much.

“It’s better and more interesting to meet the people,” he said, but admitted that to sit where the pilots sit would still have been “a little bit of fun.”

Throughout last week, the foreign officers observed how their U.S. Air Force counterparts ran such things as operations planning, sortie preparation, training initiatives and support elements. They spent most of their time with the 492nd Fighter Squadron.

The officers, who came from three separate Ukrainian bases southwest of the capital city of Kiev, plan on drafting reports that will cite the positive things they’ve seen in Lakenheath’s base operations. The findings could be implemented into their air force someday, they said.

“We’ll see what kinds of things will get adopted,” Ukrainian air force Col. Serhii Drozdov, who pilots MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter jets, said through an interpreter.

The approach of the training system is similar in both nations, yet the procedures that the U.S. implements, and also the aptitude of those who participate, are different, said Kurishko, who represented Ukraine’s air force command during the weeklong tour.

“In order to improve our own system, we will suggest the aptitude planning,” Kurishko said.

Maj. Trent Hill, an officer in the 48th Fighter Wing’s plans office, led the tour.

“They’re trying to come up with ideas to improve their military,” he said. “Not to sound arrogant, but they can see the way that someone who is successful does it.”

One thing that impressed the Ukrainian officers was the professionalism of the airmen they saw in action.

“Base personnel are highly responsible for what they do,” Drozdov said.

“Observing the way [base personnel] operate, I can say that they are not in a hurry, there is no chaos. Everything is done quietly and orderly, the way it should be,” Ukrainian air force Capt. Maksym Sikalenko, who pilots a Su-24 bomber jet, said through an interpreter.

Migrated