The Gulfstream 650 replaces the 35-year-old Gulfstream IV with which the top of Defense still flies. According to the Ministry of Defense, the device is ‘necessary for the fast and safe transport of small groups of people such as the political, military and official top of Defense to, among other things, (risky) mission areas’. These areas are often difficult or impossible to reach with commercial flights.
The replacement aircraft will be ordered through the Swiss company Jet Aviation. That company will also convert the device. A Defense spokesperson says that the previous owner of the aircraft is not currently being shared. It has been ‘checked’ whether the previous owner is ‘tidy’, according to the spokesperson. The Ministry of Defense does not make any announcements about the purchase costs, except that between 25 and 100 million euros has been earmarked for the replacement of the Gulfstream.
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Defense will receive the aircraft in the course of next year. That is slightly later than planned, “due to the challenging market for used business jets and the availability of parts for the conversion,” the ministry said. The aircraft will, among other things, have a ‘self-protection system’. This system protects the aircraft against anti-aircraft missiles. The device will also probably receive armor, making it resistant to bullets.
