While some question the stability — and the political alliances — of their government back home, a group of Iraqi pilots has become the first to begin training in US F-16s:

Two Iraqis have joined aspiring fighter pilots from the United States, Singapore, Poland, Denmark, Japan and the Netherlands at the U.S. Air Force’s international F-16 schoolhouse at Tucson International Airport.

A “senior delegation” recently visited to “assess their students’ progress.”

Iraq is reportedly expecting to receive F-16s in 2014.