But where do these figures come from? Why 11 or 21? Every four years, NATO (the organization of the North Atlantic Treaty) asks its member states to achieve capacity objectives, that is to say military capacities to be acquired. These objectives are determined after a long process of analyzing the international security situation and the current and missing capacities of the Atlantic Alliance.
NATO 2025 capacity objectives provide that Belgium commands 21 F-35 more.
Despite the gradual decline in Belgian’s military power since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the defense has managed to maintain a relatively significant and efficient expeditionary capacity of combat aircraft. Over the past twenty years, the main Belgian deployments have most often based on F-16 bombing hunters, which is thought of Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq and Syria, or now the East NATO front.
More economic benefits
In 2018, the Michel government ordered in the United States of 34 F-35 to replace its aging fleet by 54 F-16 (several F-16s have since been downgrad). NATO had however considered this number too low and, in the context of the capacity objectives of 2021, asked Belgium to acquire 11 F-35 more. The 2025 delivery of capacity objectives, set at the top of the Alliance on June 24 and 25, in The Hague, provides that Belgium rises to an additional 21 F-35.
The future fleet of Belgian F-35 could go from 34 to 55 devices
The problem is that this plane, produced by the American firm Lockheed Martin, on a bad side in Europe because its operation is deemed too dependent on the United States and because its production would not make European industry turn enough.
Why Belgium will not break the F-35 contract, despite the (many) criticisms
Within the government, the N-VA defended the acquisition of the additional 21 F-35, in accordance with the capacity objectives of 2025. Other parties, in particular the committed, were much more reluctant. The compromise identified plans to satisfy the capacity objectives of 2021, therefore to acquire 11 additional devices. They should also be assembled in Italy, in the Cameri factory, rather than in the United States, as were the first 34 aircraft ordered.
According to our information, the government also believes to be able to obtain new economic benefits for Belgian companies involved in the F-35 program.
