The first Belgian F-16 fighter jet will this week reach the fateful figure of 8,000 flight hours, the end of structural life set by US manufacturer Lockheed Martin for this type of aircraft, Kleine-Brogel Air Base announced on Monday.
This F-16A, a single-seater with the FA-95 registration, was scheduled to make its last flight on Friday, during the day reserved for ‘spotters’ (aircraft enthusiasts), at the base on the eve of the Belgian Air Force Days (BAFD) airshow on 9 and 10 September at the Limburg base.
The ‘Fighting Falcon’ will be specially decorated for the occasion, the base said on its social networks.
According to the Air Component, the aircraft could have a second life and be used as a training aircraft for armourers, once its still usable parts have been recovered. The F-16 with the fewest flying hours is the FA-71, an aircraft that also belongs to the first batch of 116 of these fighter-bombers – 96 single-seaters and 20 two-seaters – ordered in 1975 and delivered between 1979 and 1985.
According to the Air Force, this difference can be explained by the fact that this aircraft did not fly between 2012 and 2020, when it was used as a ground training aircraft for armourers.
A second batch of 44 aircraft, known as the Follow-on Buy (FOB), was ordered in 1983 to replace the Mirage 5s at the Florennes base.
The Belgian F-16 fleet, which still numbers some 50 operational aircraft, is set to shrink over the years, with withdrawals scheduled for around 2029. Their successors, 34 F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters also produced by Lockheed Martin, will be delivered between the end of this year – two aircraft – and 2030, with the first one arriving at the Florennes base in Spring 2025.
The head of the Directorate-General for Material Resources (DGMR) at the Ministry of Defence, Lieutenant-General Frédéric Goetynck, explained on Monday that it would be very difficult for Belgium to transfer F-16s to Ukraine, unlike the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway, which have promised 46 aircraft of this type to Kyiv.
“When our aircraft are taken out of service, they are at the end of their (potential)," he told ‘De Standaard’ newspaper. "It’s not that we don’t want them to, but these F-16s have flown so many hours that their structure is at the end of its tether. You can’t send aircraft to Ukraine that you yourself wouldn’t use any more.”
