One of America's most decorated former fighter pilots says he would volunteer to fly combat missions over Ukraine if the chance was offered.

Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Dan 'Two Dogs' Hampton flew the F-16 for 20 years and earned four Distinguished Flying Crosses with Valor and a Purple Heart.

Having flown 151 combat sorties, he has taken part in both the First Gulf War, Kosovo and the war in Iraq.

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Now a successful author, Lt Col Hampton spoke to Forces News, saying he backs the idea of giving Ukraine Western jets, particularly F-16s, but says it will take time.

"I think it's an excellent idea, I think it's more of a long-term answer, than a short-term answer," he said.

The challenge is training Ukrainian pilots, who are used to dated MiG-29 aircraft, which lack the sensors, advanced radars and weapons of an F-16.

The US Air Force runs a 'short course', which is four to six months, for pilots who transfer from other similar types of aircraft, like an F-15 to an F-16, and just need to familiarise themselves with the cockpit.

Lt Col Hampton said: "The Ukrainians could certainly do it but it would take more than it would take to cross-train them than, say, for an American, or a Brit or a Western-trained pilot." 

Instead, he says rather than retrain Ukraine's existing fighter pilots on F-16s, the West should train a new generation of Ukrainian aviators. 

"A better short-term answer... would be that they identify very young pilots that are maybe ready to go into flight school that are not currently flying combat missions in the Ukraine.

"They send them to the United States to go through our pilot training programme and then go through the F-16 programme from start to finish – but that'll take two years," he added.

In the meantime, Lt Col Hampton says private contractors, including himself, could fill the gap. 

"If they do decide to go with the F-16 and they get someone to give them right now, they still have to have the pilots... and the only way you're going to get that is by hiring private military contractors who are also already F-16 pilots.

"There's a pool of foreign military pilots that could be acquired for something like this."

When asked if he would go himself, Lt Col Hampton said: "Sure, why not?"