Combat aircraft

As Belgium decides on a new fi ghter, Combat Aircraft looks back at

a prestigious career for the F-16 with this small but capable air arm.

REPORT: Jos Schoofs

I

N THE EARLY 1970s, the then

Belgian Air Force and its

Danish, Dutch and Norwegian

counterparts initiated the search

for a common replacement for

their aging F-104 Star ghters.

After a thorough examination of the

Saab Viggen, Dassault Mirage F1/M53,

Northrop F-17 and General Dynamics

F-16, all four nations opted for the F-16

in 1975. Belgium signed an order for a

 rst batch of 96 F-16A single-seaters

(serials FA-01 to FA-96) and 20 F-16B

combat trainers (FB-01 to FB-20) during

May 1977. The  rst of the new  eet was

o cially handed over in January 1979.

A follow-on batch of 40 F-16As (FA-97

to FA-136) and four F-16Bs (FB-21 to

FB-24) was ordered in February 1983

to partially replace the Mirage 5  eet.

The last of these were delivered in

September 1991.

The F-16 initially equipped three

wings, each of which included two

squadrons: the 1st Wing at Beauvechain

with 349 ‘Goedendag’ and 350 ‘Ambiorix’

Squadrons and an Operational

Conversion Unit (‘Vulture’), the 2nd Wing

This image:

To mark 30 years

of the Belgian

F-16 Operational

Conversion Unit,

F-16BM serial

FB-24 received

this striking tail

art.

Belgian Defence/

Bart Rosselle

at Florennes with 1 ‘Scottish Thistle’ and

2 ‘Comet’ Squadrons, and the 10th Wing

at Kleine Brogel with 23 ‘Devil’ and 31

‘Tiger’ Squadrons.

Early operations

Belgium’s ‘Vipers’ were  elded in

anger for the  rst time over the former

Yugoslavia. Under the codename

Operation ‘Joint Falcon’, four Belgian

F-16As participated in NATO operations

over Bosnia and Herzegovina from

October 1996 onwards. When the

con ict shifted to Kosovo, Belgium

increased its support to 10 aircraft in

January 1999. In April 2001, the last of

the now-upgraded F-16AMs returned

home from their forward operating

bases in Italy.

OF BELGIAN FALCONS

58 February 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

58-65 Belgium Vipers C.indd 58 14/12/2017 11:18