Belgian Air Component The Air Component ( , ) , formerly the Belgian Air Force , is the air arm of the Belgian Armed Forces . Originally founded in 1909 , it is one of the world ' s first air forces , and was a pioneer in aerial combat during the First World War . Despite many obstacles , it performed commendably even in its first few years of existence . The present commander is Major - General Claude Van de Voorde , appointed on 23 July 2009 . History . Foundation and early years . The Belgian Air Force was founded in 1909 as a branch of the Belgian Army , carrying the name " Compagnie des Ouvries et Aérostiers " . King Albert ' s interest in the military use of airplanes was a main impetus for its formation . Coincidently , in the civil aviation sector , Baron Pierre de Caters earned the first civil pilot ' s brevet that same year . Caters would promptly establish an aviation school . At approximately the same time , the War Ministry decided to follow the French military ' s example and have pilots earn a civil pilot ' s brevet before their military one . As a result , in 1910 , three Belgian lieutenants earned their Pilot ' s Brevets at that school , voluntarily paying their own fees . There were two artillery lieutenants ; Baudoin de 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 airplane 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 airplane via a circuitous route ; Baron Caters gave an airplane to King Albert , who in turn presented it to the school . On 12 September 1912 , pilot Lieutenant Nelis and observer " Sous Lieutenant " Stellingwerff were the first Europeans to fire a machine gun from an airplane ; 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 planes 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 " Aviation Militaire Belge " , consisted of four squadrons , each consisting of four 80 - horsepower Henri Farman airplanes , although " Escadrilles " 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 Bleriot s . The new air force suffered serious setbacks on two stormy occasions , which is not too surprising considering that bad weather prevented flying about a third of the time ; on both 13 September and 28 December , windy storms destroyed and damaged its aircraft . This was not the only obstacle to its success ; the Belgian airmen had their recce reports sometimes discounted and disbelieved at war ' s opening . They also had to adjust to the dawning of hostilities in the third dimension . The neophyte aviators were belligerent toward enemy airmen almost from the start . " Sous Lieutenant " Henri Crombez flew on 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 " Sous Lieutenant " de Petrowski and Sergeant Benselin mortally wounded a German pilot with a rifle bullet and forced his Taube to land at Sint - Agatha - Berchem ; 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 planes , making a dual effort against the foe possible ; these were Belgium ' s first dedicated fighter planes . In February , 13 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 , " Sous Lieutenant " 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 plane and sought out the enemy . On the 17th , he scored Belgium ' s first confirmed aerial victory , sending an Albatros reconnaissance plane down in flames over Roeselare . Apparently at about the same time , Adjutant José Orta and " Sous Lieutenant " Louis de Burlet were the first to attack an enemy observation balloon when they dropped three small bombs on a gasbag over Houthulst . Luckily for them , they missed ; success would probably have blown them out of the sky . On 18 January 1916 , the decision was made to form a dedicated fighter squadron . On 22 February 1916 , Escadrille I became the " 1ère Escadrille de Chasse " . It consisted of newly supplied Nieuport 10 s and one obsolete Farman two - seater . In August , the new squadron would upgrade to Nieuport 11 s , and " Escadrille V " was turned into the " 5ème Escadrille de Chasse " . 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 airplanes 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 Groupe de Chasse . At this time , the role of the " Escadrilles de Chasse " was finally focused on their operation strictly as fighter units . There was a general 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 , 1ère Escadrille de Chasse became " 9ème Escadrille de Chasse " , and 5ème Escadrille de Chasse became " 10ème Escadrille de Chasse " . The " 11ème Escadrille de Chasse " 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 planes 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 craft from the French in both single and double - seat versions of the Nieuport 10 . The Belgians would continue to upgrade their planes 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 Franco - American Lafayette Escadrille had Nieuport 16 s as early as May 1916 ; the Belgians got them at the end of the year . 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 23 s , which were basically up - engined Nieuport 17s . Spad VII s 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 XIII s also came on line that month , but would not show up in Belgian inventory until the next year . Sopwith Camel s 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 airplane . 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 . Despite the many difficulties suffered during its foundation and first war , the AMB accomplished many things during World War I . 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 . A sixth Belgian , Adolphe DuBois d ' Aische , became the war ' s oldest ace while in French service . The fledgling air force was even entrusted with flying both King Albert and Queen Elizabeth over the battle front at times . Between the world wars . During the interwar period , the Belgian 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 . Planes which were used by those regiments were the Renard R - 31 and R - 32 , the Fiat CR . 42 , 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 . The following ( possibly incomplete ) table lists the inventory of the Belgian Air Force as in May 1940 Before the outbreak of the war Belgium also sought to equip its Aviation Militaire 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 . The following table summarizes Belgium ' s foreign orders : 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 Ecole de Pilotage Avancé ( Advanced Pilots ' School ) operated Harvards from the Kamina military base in the Belgian Congo . Seemingly about 60 Harvards were at the base . During the Cold War , the Belgian Air Force operated the following aircraft : Post - Cold War reforms – COMOPSAIR . 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 former Air Force became the Air Component ( COMOPSAIR ) of the Belgian Armed Forces . COMOPSAIR 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 2015 . The 1st Wing ( Belgium ) 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 planes . VIPs are transported with Embraer 135 / 145 jets , Dassault 20 / 900 , and the Airbus A310 . The Sea King helicopters and the Alouette III SAR helicopters will be active for years . They will be replaced by NH - 90s ( 10 : 4 NFH + 6 TTH ) . 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 Jet s moved to Cazaux in France to continue the Initial Operational Training , while the Advanced Jet Training is done on French Alpha Jet s at Tours . 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 . On September 1 , 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 the Basic Flying Training School . On May 24 , 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 . Recent operations . In January 1991 , 18 Mirage 5 aircraft of the 3rd Tactical Wing were deployed to Turkey ' s Diyarbakır air base . During this operation , Belgian planes 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 Dutch Royal 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 March 24 and June 10 , 1999 , 12 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 . 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 4 A - 109 ( including 1 Medevac ) in Bosnia ( Tuzla ) . In July , four F - 16s deployed to Afghanistan to support the NATO International Security Assistance Force . At the same , the 80th UAV Squadron deployed its B - Hunter in Bosnia ( Tuzla ) for a four months period : 52 persons , 6 B - Hunter and 4 GCS . In 2006 , Belgian Hunter unmanned air vehicles 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 3 A - 109 ( including 1 Medevac ) in Bosnia ( Mostar ) , Operation codeword " 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 will be deployed to Kandahar in Afghanistan in support of the Dutch land forces . 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 . as of June 2011 , the aircraft have flown over 1000 hours over Libya and attacked various military installations and targets , without causing any collateral damage to the civilian population . 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 heli support with 2 A - 109 helicopters and 2 C - 130 Hercules in a tactical air transport role