Belgians deploy

On 29 September 2020, four Belgian F-16s have deployed to Al Azraq air base (Jordan). The Florennes based aircraft will participate in Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) in the framework of the Global Coalition against ISIS.

The Fighting Falcons made an uneventful five-hour ferry flight to Jordan, after which the pilots started to prepare for their upcoming mission while the technicians configured the planes for the first sorties. The Belgian deployment is named Operation Desert Falcon as part of the Air Task Force Middle East (ATFME) .

Its not the first time that Belgian Vipers are deployed to Al Azraq and OIR. The new deployment is the third since 2014 in which they fly sorties over Iraq and eastern Syria. Their main missions will be protection of coalition ground troops, aerial reconnaissance and fighting ISIS. The last Belgian Operation Desert Falcon deployment to al Azraq ended in December 2017. During previous anti-ISIS deployments, the Koninklijke Luchtmacht (KLu, Royal Netherlands Air Force) rotated with the Belgians every twelve months. It is not known, but currently unlikely due to the conversion of the Dutch F-16s to the F-35A, that the KLu will relieve the Belgians in 2021. During the deployment, Dutch ground troops give force protection to the Belgians while they are on the deployment base.

  

Photos: Belgian Air Force