Air Component
The Belgian Air Component is the Air force of Belgium. The history of the Belgian Air Force began in 1910 when the Minister of War, General HELLEBOUT, decided after his first flight to acquire aeroplanes. On 5 May 1911 a Farman type 1910 was delivered, followed by a second on 24 May and two other in August of the same year. The Air Component Commander is Major-General Aviator Claude VAN DE VOORDE.
Its current aircraft are:
Fighter Aircraft:
- F-16 Fighting Falcon
Trainer Aircraft:
- Aermacchi SF.260
- / Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet (based in France)
Helicopters:
- Aerospatiale Alouette III
- Agusta A109
- NHI NH90 (on order, replacing the Sea King and Alouette III)
- Westland Sea King
Transport Aircraft:
- Airbus A330
- Airbus A400M (on order, replacing the C-130)
- Dassault Falcon 20
- Dassault Falcon 900
- Embraer ERJ 135
- Embraer ERJ 145
- C-130 Hercules
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles:
- RQ-5 Hunter
Read more about this topic: Belgian Army
Famous quotes containing the words air and/or component:
“No jutty, frieze,
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird
Hath made his pendant bed and procreant cradle;
Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed
The air is delicate.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“... no one knows anything about a strike until he has seen it break down into its component parts of human beings.”
—Mary Heaton Vorse (1874–1966)