1/4 King Willem-Alexander in the new Air Force tanker plane. (photo: Royal Netherlands Air Force)
King Willem-Alexander thinks it is wonderful that the Netherlands Air Force is working closely with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Norway and the Czech Republic with 9 new A330 refueling aircraft. The countries bought this new type together. The king said this on Wednesday during a working visit to Eindhoven air base, during which he also flew a tank exercise by Dutch and German fighter jets over the Wadden Sea.
The last of the 9 aircraft was recently delivered. The headquarters of this international NATO fleet is located at Eindhoven Air Base. The aircraft replace the KDC-10 aircraft of the Dutch Air Force. Not only are they refueling devices, they are also used for transportation and as flying hospitals for medical evacuations.
The visit and flying with the king had already been planned, but was postponed due to corona. In the meantime, the aircraft are already widely used, for the evacuations from Afghanistan and for the refueling of NATO fighter jets patrolling the border of Ukraine. Commander Jurgen van der Biezen of the Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Unit: “Since the start of the war in February, we have refueled more than 800 fighter jets in the air. This amounts to about 6.5 million liter of kerosene.”
Van der Biezen calls the collaboration between the six countries special: “This is a unique project. The aircraft are a joint purchase from various countries, in which we use the aircraft together and bear the burden. This allows us to reduce the shortage of air to air refueling. smaller and smaller countries will also have access to tank capacity.”
After the flight, the king praised the international cooperation: “It is very important that we have this tank and transport capacity within NATO. A country like the Netherlands cannot do this alone. Precisely by working together with Luxembourg, Belgium , Germany, Norway and the Czech Republic, we can very well keep several aircraft in the air and use them optimally.”