A looming government shutdown will "definitely" delay or otherwise negatively affect planned training for Ukrainian pilots preparing to fly F-16 fighter jets, the Pentagon warned Thursday.
Asked about the potential closure affecting the Defense Department's training operations, spokesperson Sabrina Singh said: "Absolutely. There could be impacts to training," citing in particular, civilian trainers who would be furloughed as part of a shutdown.
"You're going to have potentially trainers who, if you know, three of them let's say, are civilians and they're furloughed, and you have only one person that's a military personnel, and I'm just giving an example, you're going to have that person doing the jobs of his or her other colleagues," she said.
During a shutdown, many of the federal government's 4 million workers will be furloughed, or forced to remain home without a paycheck, while others deemed to be essential will work without pay. That includes the 1.3 million active-duty service members as well as federal law enforcement and air traffic controllers.
Singh said the Pentagon is continuing to assess the effects on its Ukrainian pilot training plans.
"We're hoping that the Congress can work and find a bipartisan, bicameral way to avoid a government shutdown. But there are still more details that we're working through on the impacts that programs will have," she told reporters.
"It's definitely going to have an impact to training on whatever that might be, whether it's, you know, actual personnel in the room, or, you know, if this continues to go longer, I'm not sure like the how much training could be delayed for other aspects of pilot training," she added.
The Pentagon is planning to begin training Ukrainian pilots and ground crews on how to fly and maintain the F-16s at the Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, Arizona beginning in October. English-language training needed to operate the planes began this month at Lackland Air Force Base in the state of Texas.
Lawmakers have until the end of the day Saturday, when the current fiscal year terminates, to pass a bill to fund the government and avoid a potentially catastrophic government shutdown.
It is unclear how long a closure would last, but many believe it is all but certain to take hold with persistent Republican infighting paralyzing the House of Representatives.
