Marcel Burger - Third time's the charm - The End of the Dutch Vipers

The F-16 with tail code J-643 started its service life on 17 March 1986 with 306 Squadron. It was scrapped in May 2019.*

Since 29 March 2024 the defence of aerospace of the Netherlands is no longer a task for the Lockheed Martin (General Dynamics) F-16 Fighting Falcon, type nickname "Viper". After 43 years of Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) the task has been transferred to the new Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II.

For the QRA, typically two aircraft were armed and combat ready at all times to scramble and intercept any threats, usually Soviet and later Russian military aircraft coming too close to NATO airspace. Since the 11 September 2001 airplane attacks at the World Trade Center in New York, intercepts of commercial airliners and smaller aircraft with lost radio contact were added.

RNLAF F-16A with tail code J-142 started its service life on 15 February 1988 with 315 Squadron. In 2019 or 2020 it was stored at Volkel Airbase. It was sold to Portugal to be canabalized for spare parts. *

Cold War vibes

The Royal Netherlands Air Force received 177 F-16A single- and 36 F-16B two-seaters, a massive purchase for a relatively small country. It clearly reflected the Cold War vibes. The Soviet Union and its forced allies of the Warsaw Pact were seen as a clear and present danger.

Fokker factory

Many of the Dutch F-16s were built by the indigenous Fokker factory at Schiphol airport, with the first aircraft taking off on 3 May 1979, piloted by Henk Temmen. A month later the first F-16 was handed over to the Koninklijke Luchtmacht. The final, 213th RNLAF F-16 rolled out of the factory on 27 February 1992, with tail code J-021.

By then it quickly became clear those massive numbers would soon diminish. In October 1991 the Berlin Wall fell. And especially after the wars in the Former Yugoslavian Republics from 1992 to 1995, Europe was entering a period of relative calmness. In 2003 the Dutch government decided to cut the fleet of F-16s by 25%, and more cuts followed.

The Year 2014

Europe's peace came slowly to an end after Russian leader Putin decided to take the Crimea Peninsula from Ukraine in February 2014, but it took most nations another eight years to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine to wake up.

The photos of this commemorative album of the Dutch Vipers are from that year, 2014. Taken at Gilze-Rijen Air Base in the Netherlands, and Schleswig-Jagel Air Base in Germany.

RNLAF F-16A with tail code J-632 started its service life on 02 May 1983. It flew with 306, 311, 312, 313 and 322 Squadron. Since 2023 it is used as a so-called instructional airframe, for training purposes, at Volkel Airbase.*

Modernized and to war

The Dutch Vipers leave their service life with the Koninklijke Luchtmacht as F-16AM and F-16BM, having been modernized to better standards. 24 of them will be donated to the Ukrainian Air Force. A dozen are already pre-positioned with the European F-16 Training Center (EFTC) at the Baza 86 Aeriana near Fetești, Romania. Here, RNLAF pilots and those of other countries train both Romanian and Ukrainian pilots on the type.

During their more than 40 years of service, the Netherlands used its F-16s a couple of times in anger. Firstly, over former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, where Dutch F-16s engaged ground targets and shot down a Serbian MiG-29. In 2002 to 2004 a small detachment of Dutch F-16s supported the Western nations' presence in Afghanistan out of Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan. Between 2014 and 2018 RNLAF F-16s flew 2,100 live bombing and ground support missions over Syria and Iraq, officially targeting ISIS (Daesh) positions. The mission debriefings are classified, but the Dutch media have reported that mistakes were made - likely by wrong intel, and this resulted in the death of at least 70 civilians in 2015.

RNLAF F-16s sold, lost and on display

Former F-16s of the Royal Netherlands Air Force were sold between 2006 and 2017 and fly on in Chile (37 aircraft delivered) and Jordan (21 aircraft delivered). According to the Netherlands national audit authority (Algemene Rekenkamer) a total of 37 RNLAF Vipers were lost in accidents, 18 were scrapped, 12 are saved as static display at museums and air bases and 18 are used for non-flying training purposes.

By 2020, only 68 remained in service - after which the gradual replacement by the new F-35 started. Orders call for 52 F-35s, of which the first landed at Leeuwarden Air Base in 2019. Volkel Air Base is home to F-35s as well. It were two F-16s from Volkel that scrambled for the last Quick Reaction Alert on 28 March 2024 - a training flight this time with the fake enemy being another pair of still operational F-16s.

RNLAF F-16A with tail code J-616 started its service life on 15 May 1982 with 311 Squadron. It will be put on display as a "gate guard" at Volkel Airbase.*

Photo of a mock-up attack during the Military Airshow of Gilze-Rijen Air Base in 2014.

RNLAF F-16A with tail code J-201 started its service life on 02 April 1986 with 315 Squadron. In 2022 it was stored at Volkel Airbase, and this one is reportedly could be among the 24 to be delivered to the Ukrainian Air Force. It has been seen in Romania with the EFTC.*

* Sources: https://www.f-16.net/aircraft-database/F-16/ and http://www.prk-aviation.nl/F-16%20database%20RNLAF.htm, retrieved 5 April 2024.

Farewell Falcon - The final operational flight, 27 September 2024

And then, the end is really there. On 27 September 2024, at around 1:30PM local time, eight Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16AMs took to the skies from Volkel Airbase in the southeast of the country for a final tour around half the country against a grey and rain cloud filled sky. In fact, the somewhat adversary weather limited the planned salute tour of the lot around the country.

RNLAF F-16 J-197 got a special tail paint scheme for the final flight, commemorating the 45 years of Royal Netherlands Air Force service of the type, the squadrons (on the rudder) and the combat mission areas )high up on the tail.

After two new F-35A Lightning IIs - the F-16s successor - led the way, the final Dutch Vipers took off in two packs of four, each with its own flight call sign. Bonzo flight was made up by J-008, J-013, J-062 and J-197. Bonzo is the nickname of 312 Squadron, the final operational unit to fly the F-16 in Royal Netherlands Air Force service. The Bonzos were followed by the four-ship Epic flight (J-006, J-512, J-515 and J-641). Left alone on the tarmac of the airbase was a ninth F-16AM (J-146), that was towed away after the departure of the others. A Belgian Air Component F-16BM two-seater joined the force up in the air, flying in from the other side of the border. In the back-seat a RNLAF photographer to capture it all from up close.

The final nine operational F-16s of the Royal Netherlands Air Force before the pilots boarded their planes, photographed on the flightline of Volkel Airbase, 27 September 2024. Note from left to right: J-146, J-512, J-641, J-006, J-515, J-008, J-013, J-197 and J-062. The canopy of J-146 remains closed and the aircraft was towed away after departure of all the other aircraft.

The first three aircraft taxi to the runway, with J-062 leading the specially painted J-197.

Take-off, runway 24R (westbound)

RNLAF F-16AM with tail number J-512 shortly after take-off to the west.

Fly-over and landing

At 3:12 PM the Farewell Falcon flight made a fly-over of the 312 Squadron building at Volkel Airbase, before all but the Belgian F-16BM made their final operational landing. For the Dutch F-16AMs it is not the end of their life yet, as the Netherlands government ships a total of 24 of its F-16s to the Ukrainian Air Force - where they most certainly see combat defending the nation against the Russian armed forces. Some of the F-16s flying the final flight were visually already prepared for their new service life, with tail emblems and other visual RNLAF identification signs removed or replaced by temporary stickers.

Six of the eight Farewell Falcon aircraft approaching Volkel Airbase from the east.

The first of the 4-pack breaks left to fly downwind before turning to final for landing.

The Belgian Air Component F-16BM two-seater, the photo flight capturing the final flight in the air, at low-speed flying over Volkel Airbase before throttling back to fuel power to fly home.

The successor: the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II

Just before the Farewell Falcon pack took to the skies, two RNLAF F-35s took off. These fifth generation fighter jets are likely to become a standard sight with the air forces of NATO and other US allies in the next four decades or more.