Combat aircraft

Above left to

right: F-16AMs

on a BAP mission

from Šiauliai in

2013, armed with

live AIM-9Ms and

AIM-120Bs.

Belgian Defence

Sukhoi Su-27UBP

‘Flanker-C’

RF-33757

‘102 Red’ was

intercepted

over the Baltic

Sea by a pair of

Belgian F-16AMs

on September

5, 2017, the

same day as

the Belgian

detachment took

over responsibility

for the Enhanced

Baltic Air Policing

mission at Ämari,

Estonia.

Belgian Defence

‘Desert Falcon’

F-16AMs taxi out

for a mission in

Jordan. Belgian

F-16s returning

from overhaul at

SABCA in recent

years have

received a slightly

revised scheme

as can be seen

here on FA-83.

The dark gray

extends further

forward than in

the past.

Belgian Defence/

Christian Decloedt

provided the detachment’s force

protection. Roles were switched on July

1, 2016 when the Belgian Air Component

resumed  ying under Operation

‘Desert Falcon’.

The last detachment consisted of six

F-16AMs, supported by 109 Belgian

and Dutch personnel. Its battle rhythm

consisted of six  ying days and one

maintenance day per week. Between two

and four sorties with an average duration

of four to  ve hours were  own daily.

Monthly  ying time for the detachment

averaged 400 hours per month. With a

total of 12,000  ying hours budgeted for

the entire Belgian F-16  eet in 2017, this

meant that an astonishing 40 per cent of

the  ying time was being carried out by

only six jets in the inventory.

On March 20, 2017, the latest

detachment completed its 3,448th  ying

hour, which compared to the 3,552 hours

of the entire 2014-15 deployment. By

March 6, 2017, some 78 per cent of the

missions were being  own over Iraq and

the remaining 22 per cent over Syria. Of

all sorties, 45 per cent were of a ‘kinetic’

nature, meaning that bombs were

dropped or cannons  red.

Closer to home, co-operative

agreements regarding the air policing

of national territories take a pragmatic

stance — Belgium is collaborating

closely with France and the Netherlands.

On July 6, 2005, the governments of

Belgium and France agreed on the

provision of collective air defense

against non-military air threats, as these

are not covered by NATO’s integrated

air defense system. The agreement,

rati ed by the Belgian government on

August 30, 2015, assures the cross-

border continuity of interceptions of

renegade civil aircraft that possibly

pose a threat to the nation’s safety and

security. It allows Belgian F-16s and

French Rafales to cross their common

border, albeit under control of the

national governmental authority and

with a recognized air picture built up

by the French Centres de Détection et

de Contrôle or the Belgian Control and

Reporting Centre (CRC).

A further-reaching agreement was

signed by Belgium, the Netherlands and

Luxembourg on March 4, 2015, aimed

at pooling and sharing resources. Until

the end of 2016, two Belgian F-16s were

to the F-16 Operational Conversion

Unit (OCU).

An obvious solution to the burgeoning

mission requirement is international co-

operation, and an obvious basis to that

is interoperability. When Belgium signed

a contract for new combat aircraft in the

mid-1970s, it did so with its European

NATO partners Denmark, Norway and

the Netherlands, the so-called European

Participating Air Forces (EPAF), which were

joined by Portugal in the year 2000.

Co-operation in operations grew over

the years. Following the creation of

the Deployable Air Task Force (DATF)

by Belgium and the Netherlands, F-16

units of both countries started working

together in an operational environment

for the  rst time during the con ict in

the Balkans. The size of that embryonic

deployable force was enlarged in 2004

when the di erent EPAF member states

signed a memorandum of understanding

to establish the EPAF Expeditionary Air

Wing (EEAW). This international out t

allows the  ve participating nations

to join their F-16s into a cohesive,

interoperable and e ective combat entity

at a ordable costs. It’s a framework that’s

likely to in uence Belgium’s decision

when it comes to a new  ghter.

It is within this agreement that Belgian

and Dutch F-16AMs are continuing their

support of Operation ‘Inherent Resolve’.

After Belgian and Dutch F-16AMs

maintained a simultaneous presence

in Jordan until mid-2015, the Royal

Netherlands Air Force continued  ying

operations for a year, while Belgium

Belgium has never been shy in pulling

its weight and supporting a growing

number of national and international obligations

and missions despite a constantly decreasing

defense budget and number of aircraft

http://www.combataircraft.net // February 2018 63

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