France has launched work on training Ukrainian pilots for the Dassault Rafale, according to Benjamin Haddad, the French minister in charge of Europe.
“We are currently in discussions with the Ukrainians to send Rafales, flown not by French pilots but by Ukrainian pilots, in Ukrainian skies,” Haddad said in an interview with franceinfo on September 29, 2026. “That is why we have also launched work on training these pilots.”
First four Rafale deliveries depend on training
Training is the immediate prerequisite for the first deliveries. In a joint declaration published by the Élysée on July 14, 2026, Ukraine announced an order for 16 initial Rafale aircraft and their armaments, out of the 100 covered by the letter of intent the two presidents signed at Villacoublay on November 17, 2025.
Under the declaration, four initial aircraft will be transferred to the Ukrainian armed forces once Ukrainian pilots and mechanics complete a training cycle that was scheduled to begin in France as early as 2026. The weapons listed include AASM bombs, laser-guided anti-drone rockets, and MICA and Meteor missiles.
When announcing the order, French President Emmanuel Macron said the aircraft were expected to operate in Ukrainian airspace in 2028 and 2029. Financing is to be requested under the 2026 and 2027 tranches of the European Union’s Ukraine Support Loan.
A parallel Gripen pipeline
The Rafale effort is unfolding alongside a separate Swedish track. On May 28, 2026, the Swedish government announced that Ukraine would buy up to 20 Gripen E/F fighters, while Sweden would donate up to 16 used Gripen C/D jets.
A month later, on June 30, 2026, Saab signed a contract with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) for 16 Gripen E fighters for Ukraine, with deliveries planned for 2029 and 2030.
Sweden said training for Ukrainian pilots would begin in 2026, with the first C/D aircraft expected to become operational in 2027.
If those schedules hold, Ukrainian crews will be learning to operate two new Western fighter types over overlapping periods, while the Ukrainian Air Force continues flying its existing F-16 and Mirage 2000-5 fleets.
Compressed conversion
France has already built up experience training Ukrainian fighter pilots. The first Mirage 2000-5 fighters, flown by pilots trained in France, arrived in Ukraine on February 6, 2025.
French aviation analyst Xavier Tytelman noted on X that converting an experienced Mirage 2000 pilot to the Rafale normally takes about five months in peacetime at the Rafale transformation squadron in Saint-Dizier. In wartime, however, training can be compressed considerably.
For example, the Alpha Jet course France ran for Ukrainian pilots in 2024 was shortened from the usual 18 months to six.