The Quest for Relevant Air Power

ROYAL NETHERLANDS Air Force │ 245
tively fragile political support for military operations came to the
fore in February 2010, when the main coalition partner of the ruling
party did not support a further extension of the Dutch military
presence in Afghanistan. The Netherlands armed forces began
to leave Afghanistan in August 2010. 117
AH-64D Apache Combat Helicopter Deployments
The massacre of Srebrenica in 1995, where Dutch peacekeepers
could not prevent genocide among the Muslim population, taught
a crucial lesson to Dutch decision makers. In 2000 a Netherlands
Marine unit together with four heavy Chinook transport helicopters
was deployed to the Horn of Africa to support a UN mission
in Ethiopia and Eritrea. This time, the Dutch parliament requested
that a detachment of four Apaches be stationed in nearby Djibouti,
providing the Marine unit with escalation dominance and
guaranteeing a secure retreat if necessary. 118 According to Dutch
sources, the deployment to Djibouti was the first combat deployment
of the AH-64D version worldwide, and the RNLAF developed
new concepts for the employment of the AH-64D under
desert conditions. 119
Soon afterwards, the RNLAF Apaches became a key asset for
alliance operations. On 30 January 2004, the Netherlands govern-
Courtesy Netherlands Institute for Military History; photo by 302 Squadron
RNLAF AH-64D Apache combat helicopters deployed to Djibouti in
early 2001.