| Pilot news now / Max van den Anker
Last week saw the end of Quick Reaction Alert by the Dutch F-16. Since Friday, the task of air surveillance has been taken over by Dutch F-35′s. For the Air Force F-16s, this is another step toward the end.
In 1981, F-16s of the Royal Air Force were first used to defend Dutch airspace. Before that, it was a task for the F-104 Starfighter. With the approaching phasing out of the F-16, the air defense task is also coming to an end. Last Thursday, two F-16s performed a "Tango Scramble" for the last time. During such a practice deployment, the two QRA aircraft take off to intercept an aircraft.
Since January 2017, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg have been cooperating in guarding joint airspace. In rotation, two fighter aircraft are always ready to take off within minutes. This is called the Quick Reaction Alert (QRA). The QRA comes into action when an aircraft flies into Benelux airspace without having submitted a flight plan in advance and without identifying itself. This can be a fighter aircraft from another country, but also a passenger aircraft. The QRA aircraft are on standby 24/7. The Belgian Air Force will still perform the QRA task with the F-16 in the coming years.
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