Belgian F-16 delivery to Jordan

On September 10 2008 the first 4 of 12 former Belgian Air Force (2 and 10 Wg) F-16AM/BM’s were delivered from Kleine Brogel AB, Belgium.

The 4 aircraft involved were:

F-16AM140 (ex. FA-58/80-3549) and 142 (ex. FA-61/ 80-3552)
F-16BM 138 (ex. FB-04/78-0165) and 139 (ex. FB-08/78-0169)

All left Kleine Brogel for Aviano AB with callsign ‘Sword 1- 4’.After Aviano, next stop was Souda AB, Crete so no air to air refuelling(s). All F-16’s were flown by RJordAF pilots and in full Jordanian markings (you could see the old Belgian serialnumbers). Because 10 Wing at Kleine Brogel organized a ‘photocall’, we were be able to see this. Only the weather was not so good; it was still dark when we arrived around 7 o’clock! When we left Kleine Brogel the sun appeared... All 4 aircraft landed safely at Moualak Salti Air Base without any problems.

F-16AM 145 (ex. FA-73/80-3564) was spare and not used and stayed behind.

138, F-16

139, F-16

139, F-16

139, F-16

140, F-16

140, F-16

142, F-16

142, F-16

145, F-16

145, F-16

142, F-16

142, F-16

140, F-16

-, F-16

History F-16 in the RJordAF

On July 29th, 1996 an agreement (Peace Falcon I) was signed between the USA and Jordan authorizing the lease of sixteen Falcons to Jordan. The roll-out of the first Jordanian F-16 was on October 28th, 1997 on Hill AFB, Utah (80-0547 ex NJ ANG 119 FS/177 FW). Later that year in December, the first batch of six aircraft made their delivery flight to Jordan. Still looking for a replacement for its old F-5 fighters, Jordan acquires another batch of seventeen F-16s (Peace Falcon II) for this replacement. On January 29th, 2003 the first six F-16s of this second order were delivered to the Royal Jordanian Air Force. The total order was 17 aircraft; 12 F-16A ADF en 5 F-16B ADF’s all former ANG aircraft. In November 2005 during the Dubai Air Show the Dutch Minister of Defence mentioned the letter of intend to sell 3 F-16BM’s to Jordan, delivery in 2006.

In April 2006 a letter of intend was signed for the acquisition of 22 * ex. Dutch (6 airframes F-16BM) and Belgian aircraft (16 airframes; 12x F-16AM and 4 x F-16BM). The deal included also the conversion of Jordanian pilots and technicians. Since then a total of 10 pilots have completed their conversion at the OCU squadron at Kleine Brogel AB, and some 70 technicians did some courses at the Royal Technical School at Saffraanberg, followed by OJT training with the 2 Wg at Florennes AB and 10 Wg at Kleine Brogel AB. First only 2 F-16BMs (FB01 and FB04) should be deilivered to the RJordAF but in July 2008 the order was changed in 4 F-16BMs (FB02 and FB08) so 2 additional F-16BMs.

Ex. Belgian AF (ex. Stored Weelde AB)
F-16AM: FA-58,60 (damaged 20 April 2004), 61, 65, 66, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 88 and 90 + 2
F-16BM: FB-01, FB-02, FB-04 and FB-08

Ex. Dutch Air Force
F-16BM: J-267, J-269, J-270 J-650, J-653 and J-654
(original plan was J-251, J-253, J-254, J-255, J-257 and J-650, J-653 and J-657)

From this contract, the first 4 Belgian F-16s were delivered today. These `new` MLU jets will operate from at Al Azraq / As Shaheed Muwaffaq Salti AB, which is approx. 90 miles east of the capital Amman. Three squadrons are based here, one Mirage F1 squadron and two F-16 squadrons. The former Belgian and Dutch F-16s will probably join 1 Sqn** and will replace the old Mirage F1s.

** the serials started with 1 so probably No 1 Sqn. The other squadrons, 2 Sqn flies with aircraft with serials started with 2 and No. 6 Sqn with serials started with 6.

Inventory RJordAF

crashes
229 (81-0672) 2 Sqn w/o 01sep2002
+2

Thanks to 10 Wg Kleine Brogel AB and www.f-16.net, www.baha.be