Foundation and early years The Belgian Air Force was founded in 1909 as a branch of the
Belgian Army, carrying the name .
King Albert's interest in the military use of aircraft was the main impetus for its formation. Coincidentally, in the civil aviation sector,
Baron Pierre de Caters earned the first civil pilot's brevet that same year. De Caters would promptly establish an aviation school. At approximately the same time, the War Ministry followed the French military's example and had pilots earn a civil pilot's
brevet before their military one. In 1910, three Belgian lieutenants earned their pilot's brevets at the school, paying their own fees. Two of the artillery lieutenants were Baudouin Montens d'Oosterwyck, who earned Brevet No. 19 on 30 September, and Alfred Sarteel, granted No. 23 on 10 November. The third lieutenant, Georges Nelis, was the new force's first aviation candidate, gaining Brevet No. 28 on 21 December. An aircraft was personally purchased for him. In spring of 1911, the new air force established its military aviation school with five pilots, two mechanics, and a woodworker. It received its first aircraft via Baron Caters, who gave the aircraft to King Albert, who in turn presented it to the school. On 12 September 1912, pilot Lieutenant Nelis and observer Stellingwerff were the first Europeans to fire a
machine gun from an aircraft; while Nelis brought the aircraft low, Stellingwerff put some bullets through a sheet staked out on the ground. They were disciplined for their efforts. Nelis then accompanied
Capitaine Commandant Émile Mathieu to England during November 1913 to demonstrate aerial use of the
Lewis machine gun at
Hendon and
Aldershot; as a result, the British adopted the Lewis, although the Belgians did not. Belgium entered World War I with aircraft tasked solely for reconnaissance missions.
World War I By the time of Belgium's entry into the First World War on 4 August 1914, the military aviation branch, now called the (), consisted of four squadrons, each consisting of four 80-horsepower
Farman aircraft, although III and IV were still forming. A truck was assigned to each squadron, along with a fifth truck serving as a mobile workshop. Each squadron had a commander, five pilots, and six observers, with all officers seconded from parent units. As a result, most of the new aviators were from the Engineers and Artillery components of the Belgian armed forces. As the war began, a fifth squadron was created, staffed with civilian pilots called to the colors and equipped with
Bleriots. Henri Crombez flew one of the first war patrols, in a
Deperdussin racer on 4 August 1914 above Liège. Adjutant Behaeghe was the first to engage an enemy, a few days later. On 26 September, the Belgian air crew of de Petrowski and Sergeant Benselin mortally wounded a German pilot with a rifle bullet and forced his
Taube to land at
Berchem-Sainte-Agathe; if they had submitted a claim for this victory, its approval would have marked history's first air-to-air combat victory. On 3 January 1915, two machine guns supplied by British were fitted to two Belgian aircraft, making a dual effort against the foe possible; these were Belgium's first dedicated fighter planes. In February, thirteen of the Belgian airmen flew 28 offensive patrols; their first dogfight was fought on the 26th, with ten
Albatroses against three Belgian Farmans. On 26 March, Boschmans sent a German two-seater into a steep dive when he seemed to hit the pilot; the German was not seen to either crash or land. This was the Belgian aviators' first victory claim. In April, Lieutenant
Fernand Jacquet mounted a machine gun on his
pusher aircraft and sought out the enemy. On the 17th, he and his observer (Lieutenant Henri Vindevoghel) scored Belgium's first confirmed aerial victory, sending an Albatros reconnaissance aircraft down in flames over
Roeselare. Apparently at about the same time, Adjutant
José Orta and
Louis de Burlet were the first to attack an enemy
observation balloon when they dropped three small bombs on a gasbag over
Houthulst, however they either did not hit, or failed to explode. in the colours of the Belgian 1st Squadron On 18 January 1916, the decision was made to form a dedicated fighter squadron. On 22 February 1916, Escadrille I became the . It consisted of newly supplied
Nieuport 10s and one obsolete Farman two-seater. In August, the new squadron would upgrade to
Nieuport 11s, and was turned into the . The new unit was the first to mount an offensive formation for the new air force; on 15 February 1917, they flew an offensive patrol of seven. By this time, the AMB had grown to 44 aircraft, including 21 fighters. At this point, individual aircraft bore personal markings affixed by their pilots, but no unit designations. In the summer of 1917, the AMB was allotted an active role in Allied aviation operations at the beginning of the
Third Battle of Ypres. In March 1918, the AMB matured into a . At this time, the role of the was finally focused on their operation strictly as fighter units. There was a sorting out of pilots into fighter or reconnaissance roles. Not all fighter pilots went into the new fighter units; as of 1 May, 22 remained with reconnaissance units to fly escort missions. The King insisted that Jacquet be given the command of the Group. The newly organized fighter wing contained the two fighter escadrilles; however, became , and became . The was founded on 28 May to join them. By the start of the Allies final offensive in September 1918, the AMB was incorporated in the Allied aviation effort, and could send 40-plus aircraft into the air at one time. In its short span of service, the Groupe fought over 700 aerial combats and was credited with 71 confirmed and 50 probable victories.
Aircraft procurement difficulties In June 1916 the nascent air force had received newer aircraft from the French in both single and double-seat versions of the
Nieuport 10. The Belgians would continue to upgrade their aircraft throughout the war, though through their dependence on French manufacturers they became the stepchildren of the Allied effort from 1916 onwards. The introduction dates of various types, compared to the date of their acquisition by the Belgians, tells the tale. The Belgians got
Nieuport 16s at the end of 1916. The
Nieuport 17 came into service with the French as early as June 1916, but the Belgians received so few that in June 1917 they were still operating all their earlier Nieuports. They then contracted for newer
Nieuport 23s, which were basically up-engined Nieuport 17s.
Spad VIIs had entered French service on 2 September 1916; the Belgians first received them almost an entire year later, with the first one on board on 22 August 1917. In September 1917, Belgium had the
Hanriot HD.1 supplied to it the year after it was introduced.
Spad XIIIs also came on line that month, but would not show up in Belgian inventory until the next year.
Sopwith Camels first went into service in May 1917 and the AMB received its first one on 29 November 1917. The AMB did make one attempt to design and build its own aircraft. However the Ponnier M1 was not good enough for production, and the ten or so manufactured ended up with clipped wings as powered "Penguin" rollers for training rookie pilots.
Operational summary One of its
flying ace pilots,
Willy Coppens, became the top ranking
balloon buster of World War I, as well as one of the war's top aces. Four other pilots from the tiny force also became aces with it:
Andre de Meulemeester,
Edmond Thieffry,
Jan Olieslagers, and
Fernand Jacquet. The fledgling air force was entrusted with flying both
King Albert and
Queen Elisabeth over the battle front at times.
Between the world wars , 1931 During the
interwar period, the Belgian Army Air Force flew the
Breguet 19. Some efforts were made to acquire aircraft from local production, such as those by
Stampe et Vertongen and
Renard. They also evaluated native designs like the
ACAZ C.2 and
LACAB GR.8, none of which entered mass production however.
World War II At the start of World War II, the Army Air Force had three active Air Force Regiments. Aircraft which were used by those regiments were the
Renard R-31 and
R-32, the
Fiat CR.42 Falco, the
Hawker Hurricane, the
Gloster Gladiator, the
Fairey Fox, and the
Fairey Battle. These were massacred by the much superior German Luftwaffe in the German invasion of May 1940. Before the outbreak of the war Belgium also sought to equip the with foreign designs, ordering production licences in
Poland and
France and aircraft in the USA. However, the acquired licences could not be used until May 1940 and the aircraft produced in the USA were eventually delivered to
France and to the
United Kingdom. After the surrender of Belgium on 28 May 1940, a very small Belgian Air Force in exile was created in Great Britain as the Belgian section of the
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. This small force was active within the British
Royal Air Force, and its squadrons were equipped with the
Supermarine Spitfire and
Hawker Typhoon.
The Cold War On 15 October 1946, the Belgian military aviation was turned into an autonomous force, independent of the Belgian Army. From September 1953 to 1960, the Advanced Pilots' School () operated Harvards from the
Kamina military base in the
Belgian Congo. Seemingly about 60 Harvards were at the base.
Post-Cold War reforms of the Belgian Air Force At the beginning of the 1990s, the end of the Cold War caused the Belgian government to restructure the Belgian Armed Forces in order to cope with the changed threats. The Belgian Air Force was hit hard and saw its strength more than halved with the disbanding of the 3rd Tactical Wing in Bierset (1994); the disbanding of the 1st Fighter Wing in
Beauvechain; the 9th Training Wing in
Sint-Truiden Air Base; and the Elementary Flying School in
Goetsenhoven (1996). In 2002, the Belgian government decided to emulate
Canada and impose a "single structure" on its armed forces in which the independent Belgian Air Force ceased to exist. The Belgian Air Force consists of the
2nd Tactical Wing in
Florennes Air Base and the
10th Tactical Wing in
Kleine Brogel Air Base, both flying F-16s in four squadrons. Out of the 160 F-16s originally bought by Belgium, only 105 were upgraded; with further reductions to 72 aircraft in 2005; and planned to 60 by 2012. The
1st Wing at
Beauvechain Air Base is assigned for the training of pilots, using the piston-powered
Aermacchi SF.260 for elementary training, and the
Alpha Jet for advanced training. Advanced combat training is done on F-16's at
Kleine Brogel. COMOPSAIR still operates the
Lockheed C-130 Hercules in the
15th Air Transport Wing based at
Melsbroek Air Base, planning to replace them by seven
Airbus A400M transport aircraft. VIPs are transported with
Embraer 135/145 jets,
Dassault 20/900, and the
Airbus A321. The
Sea King SAR helicopters were phased out in March 2019 after more than 40 years of service and replaced by
NH90s (4 NFH + 4 TTH). The
Alouette III helicopters flown for the Belgian Navy in a utility-role were phased out in 2021. In 2004, as part of the unified structure, the Army Aviation units of the
Wing Heli were transferred to the COMOPSAIR. These contain the
Agusta A109 attack helicopter, and the
Alouette II training and recce helicopter. In 2005, the Belgian
Alpha Jets moved to Cazaux in France to continue the
Initial Operational Training, while the Advanced Jet Training was done on French
Alpha Jets at Tours. As from 2013 both Advanced Jet Training as well as Initial Operational Training are completed in Cazaux in France. Within the framework of its commitments within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,
NATO, Belgium has assigned its 72 F-16s to NATO purposes. Two squadrons with a total of 16 aircraft have been designated for use by the
Rapid Reaction Forces. In February 2008, Defense Minister
Pieter De Crem announced that due to increasing problems and poor serviceability, the two
A310s were to be replaced as soon as possible by two aircraft in the same class. An
Airbus A330 was dry-leased to take their place till March 2014 where it was replaced by an
Airbus A321. On 1 September 2010, the
Wing Heli in Bierset was disbanded and the
Agusta A109 helicopters moved to
Beauvechain Air Base to become
1st Wing. The
SF260 squadrons became part of the
Basic Flying Training School. On 24 May 2011, it was reported that the two retired Airbus A310 aircraft have been sold to the
Brussels-based company MAD Africa for the amount of 700,000 euros. The company then sold them on to the Dutch Van Vliet transport company, who in their turn will transfer the aircraft to an as yet unspecified
Abu Dhabi-based operator.
1990s In January 1991, 18 Mirage 5 aircraft of the 3rd Tactical Wing were deployed to
Turkey's Diyarbakır air base. During this operation, Belgian aircraft carried out several flights along the Iraqi border. After this operation the obsolete Mirage 5s were phased out. On 15 July 1996, a C-130 with serial CH-06 carrying 37 members of the Dutch Army Fanfare Band and four Belgian crew members crashed at
Eindhoven after a bird strike while executing a go-around, resulting in the loss of power to two engines. 34 passengers were killed, and only 7 survived. The accident is known in the Netherlands as the
Herculesramp. From October 1996, the Belgian Air Force cooperated with the Royal Netherlands Air Force in the "Deployable Air Task Force" in patrolling former Yugoslavian airspace. F-16s of the 2nd and 10th Tactical Wings, operating from the Italian bases of
Villafranca and
Amendola, were assigned to missions insuring the control of a No-Fly Zone over Yugoslavia, and providing the air support necessary for UN and NATO troops. Between 24 March and 10 June 1999, twelve Belgian F-16s carried out 679 combat sorties – the first time since the second World War that Belgian aircraft took part in active war operations in enemy territory – against
Serbia during the
Kosovo crisis. The last Belgian F-16 detachment left
Italy in August 2001.
2000s On 29 March 2004, four F-16s from
Kleine Brogel were transferred under
NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission to the
Šiauliai Air Base in
Lithuania for three months, where they were employed in monitoring the
Lithuanian,
Latvian, and
Estonian skies. In 2005, the Helicopter Wing (WHeli – HeliW) deployed four A109 (including one Medevac) in
Tuzla, Bosnia. In July, four F-16s deployed to
Afghanistan to support the
NATO International Security Assistance Force. From June to October 2005, the
80th UAV Squadron deployed its B-Hunter in Tuzla. In 2006, Belgian Hunter
UAVs deployed to the
Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of the
EU EUFOR peacekeeping mission. At the same time, the Helicopter Wing (WHeli – HeliW) deployed three A109 (including 1 Medevac) in Mostar, Bosnia, in Operation Blue Bee. On 1 December 2006 the Belgian Air Component deployed again under Baltic Air Policing mission four F-16 MLU aircraft to Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania, to defend the airspace of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. From August 2008, four F-16s were deployed to Kandahar in Afghanistan in support of the Dutch land forces.
2010s In March 2011, Belgium deployed six F-16 fighters to
Araxos in Greece, in support of
Operation Odyssey Dawn, to support the NATO operations over Libya. The aircraft were already at the base as part of a joint exercise and were transferred to NATO command. Up to June 2011, the aircraft had flown over 1,000 hours over Libya and attacked various military installations and targets. , England On 12 September 2011 a Wikileaks document showed a diplomatic cable from the American ambassador and the Minister of Defence Pieter De Crem that Belgium is interested in buying off-the-shelf Lockheed F-35 Lightnings by 2020. In 2013 the Belgian Air Force supported French operations in Mali providing Medevac helicopter support with two A109 helicopters and two C-130 Hercules in a tactical air transport role. On 2 September 2013, four F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter-jets of the Royal Belgian Air Force landed at the
Šiauliai Air Base to take charge of
NATO's Air Policing mission over the
Baltic states. Between October 2014 and July 2015 six Lockheed Martin F-16AM Fighting Falcons were deployed under Operation Desert Falcon to
Muwaffaq Salti Air Base as part of
military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. On 11 October 2018, one Belgian F-16 was completely destroyed and a second damaged, in a fire at
Florennes Air Base, reportedly caused by the accidental firing of a cannon. On 25 October 2018, Belgium officially selected the offer for 34 F-35As to replace the current fleet of around 54 F-16s. In the accompanying news conference, government officials stated that the decision to select the F-35 over the
Eurofighter Typhoon came down to the price, and later stated that "The offer from the Americans was the best in all our seven valuation criteria". The total purchasing price for the aircraft and its support until 2030 totaled €4 billion, €600 million cheaper than the initially budgeted €4.6 billion. First deliveries were scheduled to take place in 2023. On 19 September 2019, a Belgian Air Force F-16 crashed in France.
2020s In 2022 the STAR program (Strategic Defense Review) was announced by the Belgian Ministry of Defense which plans for the upgrade of the existing 4 NFH90 helicopters used by the Belgian Navy with currently lacking ASW Sensors & Weapons, the replacement of the remaining 10 Augusta A109Bi helicopters by new 15 Light Utility Helicopter (Airbus H145) and the acquisition of 6-8 heavy transport helicopters (CH-47F) to replace the 4 TTH90's whereby closer cooperation with the Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force is considered. During 2025, Belgian Air Force transport aircraft made several trips to the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Burundi, where they support military logistics in the context of the
escalation of the M23 campaign. Its activity in the
African Great Lakes region has increased since the fall of the cities of
Goma and
Bukavu to the M23/
Congo River Alliance rebel forces in early 2025. In November 2025, Burundi approved a year-long clearance for three Belgian Air Force Airbus A400Ms to fly into Burundian airspace and land at
Melchior Ndadaye International Airport in
Bujumbura through 2026.
Joint air policing On 4 March 2015, the Belgian and Dutch ministers of defence, along with the ambassador of Luxembourg to the Netherlands, signed an agreement on joint air policing. Starting mid-2017, the Belgian Air Component and the
Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force will take turns keeping two
F-16s on quick reaction alert (QRA) defending the airspace of all three
Benelux countries. The agreement could allow the Belgian minister of defence to order a Dutch aircraft to use lethal force over Belgian airspace, and vice versa.
Luxembourg, while currently covered by Belgian QRA, does not allow the use of lethal force over its territory. == Organization ==