Belgian Air Force

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Force Aérienne belge
Composante Air / Luchtcomponent

Air Force Ensign of Belgium.svg
Lineup 1910
Country Belgium
Type Armed forces (air component)
insignia
Aircraft cockade Roundel of Belgium.svg
National emblem ( vertical stabilizer ) Flag of Belgium.svg

The Belgian air component , English as a Belgian Air Component referred, the air forces of the Kingdom of Belgium as part of the Belgian Armed Forces . In the Flemish part of the country they are known as Luchtcomponent and as Composante Air in French in Wallonia. It has a staff of around 8,600 soldiers.

history

The first Belgian airship Belgique
Also, F-84F Thunderjet were flown during the Cold War from the Air Power

Military aviation in Belgium began at the beginning of the 20th century with a flying company. In the spring of 1915 it was renamed Aviation Militaire Belge , which existed under this name until the German occupation of Belgium in 1940.

At this time, the British Royal Air Force began to put squadrons with personnel from the states occupied by Germany into service. Two seasons from this period, the 349th and 350th seasons, are still active today. Both were still in Germany for some time until the end of 1946, first in Wunstorf and later in Faßberg .

The RAF squadrons formed the newly established Belgian Air Force in 1946 , which was later fully integrated into NATO . In the early years, the British piston engine fighters and Douglas vans were used almost exclusively.

During the Cold War , jets of the types Hawker Hunter , Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and Dassault Mirage 5 and the Fairchild C-119 as a transporter were flown . Belgian squadrons were also temporarily stationed in Germany, so in 1953 the two F-84 squadrons from Florennes and Kleine Brogel, when their bases were expanded, in RAF Brüggen, and the 42nd squadron, also equipped with F-84, from 1954 to 1956 in RAF Wahn .

As early as 1980, the now modernized General Dynamics F-16 A / B, which were built under license, were put into service. Belgium was among the first European users of this pattern, along with the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. The number of active machines, a total of 160 were procured in two tranches (116 and 44), but was gradually reduced after the end of the Cold War; In 2015 they want to fly 60 more machines.

After 1990, the air power was reduced by more than half and in 2002 the greatly reduced air power was combined as the Belgian air component with the other previous armed forces to form a single organization. In 2004, the Army Aviation Units, which had been subordinate to the land component until then, were also taken over.

During the first combat mission of NATO, Operation Allied Force in Kosovo in 1999, Belgian machines were also used. In the 2000s, Belgian machines also took part in missions in Afghanistan .

Current equipment

Status: 09/2016

Aircraft photo origin use version active Ordered Remarks
Warplanes
SABCA F-16 Fighting Falcon F-16 MLU of Belgian Air Force's Solo Display Team (reg.FA-133), taxiing, Radom AirShow 2005, Poland.jpg BelgiumBelgium Belgium / United States
United StatesUnited States 
Multipurpose fighter F-16AM 49 only some of the 136 machines originally delivered are currently in use; a successor is being sought
Transport aircraft
Airbus A321 PortugalPortugal Portugal / European Union
European UnionEuropean Union 
VIP transporter 1 leased from Hi Fly , civil registration
Dassault Falcon 20th Dassault Falcon 20E, Belgium - Air Force JP6527344.jpg FranceFrance France VIP transporter Falcon 20E 2 will be retired in 2018
Airbus A400M Atlas A400M ATLAS - illustration.svg European UnionEuropean Union European Union multifunctional transport aircraft 7th from 2018
Lockheed C-130 Hercules Belgian air force C-130 Hercules aircraft.JPG United StatesUnited States United States tactical transport aircraft C-130H 11 will be retired by 2020
Embraer ERJ 145 A2612-Belgium-EMB145-CE-03-RIAT2013.JPG BrazilBrazil Brazil Transport plane ERJ 145
ERJ 135
2
2
Training aircraft
SABCA F-16 Fighting Falcon F-16B of Belgian Air Force with marks for 20 years of the Operational Conversion Unit (3569945335) .jpg BelgiumBelgium Belgium / United States
United StatesUnited States 
Combat trainer F-16BM 10 only some of the 24 machines originally delivered are currently in use.
Alpha Jet Aircraft Alpha-Jet Belge AT-18.JPG GermanyGermany Germany / France
FranceFrance 
Advanced trainer Alpha Jet 1B 29
SIAI Marchetti SF.260 Siai Marchetti SF 260M ST-18.jpg ItalyItaly Italy Advanced trainer SF.260M
SF.260D
32
helicopter
Aérospatiale SA-319 Alouette III FranceFrance France Liaison helicopter SA.316B 3
AgustaWestland AW109 A109 - RIAT 2012 (7556546226) .jpg ItalyItaly Italy Light multipurpose helicopter A109A
A109BA
23
Westland Sea King Sea King Mk48 Tours.JPG United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom SAR helicopter Mk.48A 2 2019 out of service
NH90 NH90 (15226944415) .jpg European UnionEuropean Union European Union Transport helicopters ,
SAR and board helicopters
TTH
NFH
4
4
plus 2 TTH as an option

An extensive list of the former aircraft can be found on the corresponding page in the English language Wikipedia.

Air bases

Belgian Air Force (Belgium)
Beauvechain
Beauvechain
Florennes
Florennes
Kleine-Brogel
Kleine-Brogel
Melsbroek
Melsbroek
Koksijde
Koksijde
  • Current bases ( "Base aérienne de ..." ) of the lighting component
  • Belgium has four major military airfields :

    A smaller place houses helicopters:

    The 11th Squadron Alpha Jet Trainers, administratively part of the 1st Wing , are permanently stationed at the Cazaux military airfield in southwestern France and belong to the Franco-Belgian Advanced Jet Pilot Training School (AJeTS).

    Incidents

    • On July 19, 1960, a Fairchild C-119G of the Belgian Air Force ( aircraft registration CP-36 / OT-CBP ) had an accident in mountainous terrain near Rushengo ( Republic of the Congo ). Of the 43 occupants, 39 were killed, all 3 crew members and 36 passengers.
    • On December 12, 1961, two Fairchild C-119Gs of the Belgian Air Force (registration numbers CP-25 / OT-CBE and CP-23 / OT-CBC) collided during the flight near Montignies-lez-Lens (Belgium). All 13 crew members of both machines (8 + 5) were killed.
    • On October 22, 1965, a Fairchild C-119 G of the Belgian Air Force (CP-19 / OT-CAS) flew into a wooded mountain in Reinhardswald , 2.7 kilometers west-northwest of Reinhardshagen-Veckerhagen . All eight inmates were killed. The machine was supposed to deliver supplies for a maneuver in the North Hessian-East Westphalian area.
    • On July 15, 1996, a Lockheed C-130H Hercules of the Belgian Air Force (CH-06) had an accident while landing at Eindhoven Airport ( Netherlands ). The machine had been chartered by the Dutch Air Force . After several bird strikes , the left engines 1 and 2 lost power, but the crew switched off engine 3. The plane crashed next to the runway. However, the fire brigade at Eindhoven Airport only noticed after 23 minutes that there were passengers in the cabin. Of the 41 occupants, 34 were killed, including all 4 crew members and 30 passengers; only 7 passengers survived.
    • On 5 May 2006, a Lockheed C-130H Hercules burned the Belgian Air Force (CH-02) on the Brussels Airport ( Belgium completely). A fire broke out in the maintenance hangar of the Belgian airline Sabena , which could only be brought under control 3 hours later after the roof collapsed. Three Airbus A320s from various airlines also burned out. People were not harmed.

    See also

    Web links

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ Accident report C-119G CP-36 / OT-CBP , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 11, 2020.
    2. ^ Accident report C-119G CP-25 / OT-CBE , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 11, 2020.
    3. ^ Accident report C-119G CP-23 / OT-CBC , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 11, 2020.
    4. 53 years after the accident: Belgian army creates memorial in Reinhardswald. Retrieved February 11, 2020 .
    5. ^ Accident report C-119 CP-19 / OT-CAS , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 11, 2020.
    6. ^ Accident report C-130H Hercules CH-06 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 10, 2020.
    7. Incident report C-130H Hercules CH-02 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 10, 2020.