The Quest for Relevant Air Power

236 │ ROYAL NETHERLANDS Air Force
The combined EPAF deployment proved to be quite effective despite
some legal and procedural obstacles. To further improve cooperation
between the European F-16 users, Gen D. L. Berlijn, the
RNLAF commander in chief, took the initiative to approach his
Belgian, Danish, Norwegian, and Polish counterparts to ask for
their views upon a possible expansion of the DATF concept, finally
resulting in the EPAF EAW. The participating air forces intend
to make optimum use of available and complementary assets
in out-of-area operations to increase efficiency. For example, during
the operations over Afghanistan, the Netherlands and Denmark
provided targeting pods free of charge for common use,
while Norway provided a hangar and a deployable communication
module. 66
The EPAF EAW is inherently flexible, as it allows for deployments
involving two or more air forces, depending on the particular
circumstances. Through this approach, national sovereignty is
respected, with each participating nation defining its level of commitment.
67 Moreover, it was also intended to make the EPAF EAW
available to the NRF. 68 The MOU for the EPAF EAW was finally
signed by the defence ministers of Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands,
Norway, and Portugal during the NATO summit in Istanbul
on 28 June 2004. 69 The essential benefit of the EPAF EAW concept
is synergy. Through their combined commitment, EPAF nations
as a group can deploy more robust and sustainable force packages
than autonomous national efforts would allow.
While the EPAF EAW is a form of enhanced cooperation and
pooling, it does not extend to role specialisation, which is seen to
curtail deployment options. This thrust is completely in line with
Dutch decision makers’ ideas about military cooperative arrangements.
While the government views cooperation as a prerequisite
for smaller countries to retain relevant armed forces, it considers
a certain degree of autonomy essential to remain functional. 70
Analogous to the DATF model, the Netherlands proposed
combining American, German, and Dutch Patriot guided missile
units into a deployable combined unit for TBMD in deployed
NATO operations. 71 In 1999 the trinational Extended Air Defence
Task Force was established in Germany. Its tasks are to enhance
interoperability by planning training and exercises and to provide
liaison for US, Dutch, and German Patriot units. 72 Thus far, Dutch