The primary Belgian Air Pressure F-35A fighters have arrived within the nation at Florennes Air Base, Belgium, marking a significant milestone within the modernisation of the nation’s aerial warfare capabilities because it prepares to part its Chilly Conflict period F-16s out of service. The plane had been chosen for procurement in 2018, marking a significant landmark for the American fighter program’s penetration into European markets because it swept apart native competitors. Commenting on the procurement, Chief of Defence of the Belgian Armed Forces Basic Frederik Vansina noticed: “Along with our NATO and European allies, we’re constructing a wall of F-35s — a defend of over 700 plane securing our European skies… That wall is just not an emblem of aggression, however of dedication. It says loud and clear: the skies over Europe belong to those that defend freedom, to not those that search to destroy it.”
The F-35 gives a revolutionary enchancment to the capabilities of the Belgian fighter fleet, with the nation’s F-16s having lengthy since been thought-about out of date for top depth battle, and counting on radars that aren’t solely a lot smaller than these of the brand new plane, but in addition far much less environment friendly and extra susceptible to jamming.Elaborating on the brand new capabilities offered by the F-35s, Commander of the Belgian Air Pressure Main Basic Geert De Decker noticed: “With the F-35, Belgium is reclaiming its place among the many world’s main air forces, outfitted with essentially the most superior know-how, built-in inside a multinational and interconnected surroundings… Belgium is buying a fifth-generation fighter jet, a flying weapons platform able to finishing up a number of missions in a single flight.” Having ordered 34 fighters in 2018, the Belgian Defence Ministry in July 2025 introduced its intention to obtain 11 further fighters to deliver the fleet dimension to 45.
The arrival of the primary F-35s in Belgium had notably been delayed, with the Belgian Defence Ministry in 2023 refusing deliveries after the fighters had been discovered to be “technically unsatisfactory” and in want of additional software program enhancements earlier than assembly the Air Pressure’s requirements. The fighter program has been tormented by excessive efficiency points with roughly 800 defects nonetheless afflicting it, a quantity which has not modified considerably in properly over half a decade attributable to each the gradual velocity at which points are resolved and the continual discovery of recent flaws, with the U.S. Marine Corps and Republic of Korea Air Pressure being among the many different events to word main issues. Most not too long ago, simply three of a deliberate 4 F-35s arrived in Belgium, because the fourth was left behind attributable to what the Defence Ministry described as “technical uncertainty concerning its flying capabilities.”
The Belgian Defence Ministry selected the F-35 in a 2018 tender to switch its U.S.-supplied F-16s, favouring it over competitors from fourth era fighters such because the French Rafale and pan-European Eurofighter. This was carried out regardless of Brussels having confronted appreciable stress from Paris to pick out the Rafale, in addition to gives of tens of billions of {dollars}’ value of investments and industrial cooperation.Belgium has been adopted by Switzerland, Finland and others throughout Europe in deciding on the F-35 over European opponents, forcing the Rafale and Eurofighter to goal markets that are unable to obtain the F-35 for political causes corresponding to Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia. The F-35 is just not solely significantly extra subtle than European opponents, with its avionics suite and superior stealth capabilities permitting to function in a wholly totally different league, however it’s also produced much more effectively and on a a lot higher scale permitting it to be provided extra cheaply.
As the one fighter of its era in massive scale manufacturing exterior China, the F-35 has constantly gained all tenders by which it has competed towards different Western fighters. The plane was designed with a robust deal with the flexibility to suppress and destroy enemy air defences, which is taken into account significantly worthwhile within the European theatre as a result of Russian Armed Forces’ excessive reliance on ground-based air defence methods to guard the nation’s airspace.
