The Quest for Relevant Air Power

ROYAL NETHERLANDS Air Force │ 255
difficult to determine common performance specifications. As a
result, the Netherlands withdrew from the programme in May
1969. Subsequently, potential contenders for an F-104 Starfighter
successor narrowed down to an American combat aircraft, the
Cobra by Northrop; the Mirage F1 by Dassault; and the Swedish
Viggen. In the mid-1970s, the Dutch decided to go with the F-16
by General Dynamics, which won a USAF competition against
the Cobra. There were those, however, particularly in the Dutch
aerospace industry, who would have preferred Dassault as a potential
partner for politico-industrial reasons. 168
In the post–Cold War era, the Netherlands has continued to
buy primarily American as this has been perceived to deliver low
unit costs combined with high quality. Yet, as the country has become
almost exclusively dependent upon foreign suppliers, Dutch
defence industrialists are concerned that purchasing off-the-shelf
technology could reduce the Netherlands’ research and development
capabilities. 169
Combat Aircraft
Along with Belgium, Denmark, and Norway, the Netherlands was
one of the four initial European customers for the F-16 combat aircraft.
Dutch F-16s were assembled at Fokker, and the first delivery to
the RNLAF was in June 1979. Overall, the Netherlands procured 213
aircraft. As examined above, this number had to be considerably reduced
in the post–Cold War era, and by 2003, all remaining operational
F-16A/Bs had undergone an MLU programme. 170
Initially, the aircraft’s operational service life was estimated at
20 years. But developments in avionics technology made it possible
to extend the operational life span of the F-16 aircraft considerably.
Accordingly, the Netherlands, along with Belgium, Denmark,
and Norway, opted for a thorough MLU rather than
replacing the aircraft. For about 25 per cent of the original procurement
costs, the operational life span of the Dutch F-16 aircraft
was planned to be extended by 10 to 15 years in the late
1990s. 171 Planning for 2006 actually foresaw maintaining the capability
of deploying at least one F-16 squadron up to 2020. 172 As has
been previously noted, this MLU occurred under the EPAF framework.
In 1993 the F-16 MLU contract was awarded to Lockheed
Martin. 173 The RNLAF, remaining tightly involved in the pro-