Dutch have defected to the JSF camp

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Date Posted: 28-Jan-2005

JANE’S DEFENCE WEEKLY – FEBRUARY 02, 2005

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JSF best for jointness, says Dutch air chief
JORIS JANSSEN LOK JDW Special Correspondent
London

European air forces should not be procuring European-made fighter aircraft if they want to enhance co-operation in the short and medium term, according to the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF).

According to Lieutenant General Dirk Starink, procuring the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) from the US offers the best promise to achieve operational integration, cost savings and interoperability across Europe, particularly for the smaller air forces.

Speaking at the Shephard Air Power Conference in London on 26 January, Gen Starink said that he anticipated co-operation among European air forces will further increase in the future.

“First of all, this will consist of joint procurement and maintenance of weapon systems. Considerable cost savings can be achieved by scaling up, which means that a larger fighting force can be achieved with the same budget,” he said.

“I would like to point out that European co-operation does not automatically imply purchasing European-built materiel. For example, the US-built F-16 is the most widely used fighter aircraft in Europe at the moment,” he said.

“It is expected that the number of European nations operating and supporting the JSF will ultimately exceed the number of those operating the Eurofighter. I believe that this offers the best prospect for intensive co-operation in the short and the medium term.

“By the same token, it will be cheaper, and thus easier, to maintain the aircraft as a state-of-the-art system through modification programmes,” Gen Starink said, adding that “another aspect of commonality with allies is that it automatically ensures interoperability”.

The Netherlands government is considering the purchase of the JSF as a successor to the F-16, to be introduced from 2011.

The Dutch air force chief called the F-35 an “example of far-reaching integration of superior sensor arrays, stealth capabilities and state-of-the-art weapon systems”.

“If we look at the results achieved with ISTAR [intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance] and combine this with the wealth of possibilities offered by the sensors fitted on the JSF, we are not talking about just one step up the ladder, but a multitude of improvements,” said Gen Starink.

“Once an asymmetric target has been made visible with the use of superior sensors, it can be engaged with symmetric means.

“The state-of-the art technology of the JSF means that we will have a modern aircraft at our disposal over a longer period of time, with an operational lifecycle that is much longer than that of a less advanced aircraft.”

Gen Starink said that the need for interoperability and multinational co-operation, also beyond the confinement of Europe, was greater than ever.

“My air force is at present involved in operations all over the globe. Multiple deployments with multiple weapon systems to Iraq and Afghanistan, and, most recently, Sumatra, Thailand and Sri Lanka, show that the Asian continent is no longer uncharted territory for us. Further globalisation of our range of operations is anticipated as we continue our development into a rapid, first-rate expeditionary air force, deployable to theatres around the globe.”

The RNLAF’s involvement in a number of combined coalitions contributed to the expeditionary character of the service, the general said.

“The Netherlands has allocated 12 F-16s to the NATO Response Force (NRF) on a structural basis, as well as a considerable part of its helicopter capability and surface-to-air missile systems. A European equivalent to NATO’s NRF is the EU battlegroup concept. Although we underline the importance of the EU battlegroups, it is not clear yet what the extent of the RNLAF contribution will be,” he said, adding that he “strongly favoured the concept of a specific EU air battlegroup”.

“Within the European Participating Air Forces [EPAF] organisation, formed by F-16 users Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal, we have set up the EPAF Expeditionary Air Wing, EEAW, initiated by the Netherlands,” he added.

“The concept has already been field tested twice: first in Italy with a Belgian-Netherlands deployment during the 1999 Kosovo conflict; and then in Kyrgyzstan, where an integrated Danish-Norwegian-Netherlands F-16 detachment very successfully carried out missions over Afghanistan during 2002-2003,” he said.

“A complicating factor is that the [seven-nation] European Air Group [EAG] is trying to set up an EAG-wide expeditionary air wing, the difficulty being that neither Norway not Denmark are members. We do support the EAG initiative but our emphasis continues to be on the EPAF expeditionary wing because that exists and has been proven to work.”