FORGOTTEN VALOR FRIDAY.

Time to start a new gig. For fourteen years I have looked with envy at CDR Salamander's Fullbore Friday, and over the past couple of years I began to think of doing something similar on this here humble blog... but with an emphasis on Belgian Army personalities. I will readily admit that the decision to limit myself to what is in effect a small 'demographic' is that, as a keen reader of history, I have always felt that same history has not been especially nice to our military. As a result, public perception, not in the know about a topic that most find generally boring, even when 'martial' countries are involved, has easily accepted the paradigm that Belgian military prowess is nonexistant at worst, and deserving of being the butt of many jokes at best. This new series is meant to provide another view, a view that is, in my opinion, long overdue.

Mark Felton's got a very well made and instructive video on the first person in what I hope will be a long-lived feature here on DowneastBlog. Ladies and Gentlemen, here is Baron Jean Michel P.M.G. de Selys Longchamps, DFC, who during a daring raid in JAN 1943 raided the Gestapo HQ in Brussels with his Hawker Typhoon:





Only eight months after the attack, in the night of AUG 15/16 1943, Captain-demoted-PO for the unauthorized raid Jean de Selys Longchamps flew a mission over Ostend. Hit heavily by flak, he flew back over the Channel only to find out that his landing gear malfunctioned. Upon touching down on Manston airfield's runway his Typhoon crashed and broke in two. The Baron was killed instantly. He was buried with full military honors in Minster-in-Thanet.




Forgotten valor.



MFBB.

BAF F-16 DETACHMENT BACK FROM JORDAN.

On DEC 26, 2017, the BAF F-16 detachment took off from their base in Jordan for the last time and flew back to Belgium, a trip which took 6 hours and during which they were refuelled by an Armée de l'Air tanker. During one and a half year, from July 1, 2016 to December 26, 2017, the jets (during the first year 6, from July 2017 4), logged 6,108 flying hours. Like in the previous deployments, the BAF air strikes accounted for 5 per cent of the coalition total. More info here. As before, the Dutch Air Force will now take over.





Before long, another detachment of 4 planes which operated from Amari AFB, Estonia since September 4, will also return home. They had been posted there in the framework of NATO's Enhanced Air Policing Mission. This deployment was the seventh.





The two simultaneous missions, although still very modest, leave open the question of what the Belgian military would be capable of if only it did not have to operate on less than a shoestring budget. There is indeed no department that has had to cut its budget for so long and so profoundly like defense.

As for the venerable F16's successor, another one of the candidates for replacement, Boeing with its F/A-18 Super Hornet, pulled out of the bidding process in April of 2017 already. The Saab Gripen is also out of the question since it cannot be equipped with nuclear weapons. The French government just recently probably overplayed its hand in promising Belgium 20 billion EUR in economic compensations if the BAF would decide for the Dassault Rafale. So basically there are only two serious contenders left: the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Lockheed Martin F-35A. The latter would be the most logical choice since it is truly a 5th generation aircraft, now outgrowing its development difficulties fast, but more importantly, the Dutch already use it (as do the Norwegians) and if the anti-ISIS operations over Syria and Iraq, and before that, the missions in Afghanistan, have shown anything, it's that by using the same aircraft the air forces of the Low Countries can and will develop even more synergies. A final decision is expected in the course of this year. It's about time.


MFBB.

BELGIAN SF IN TAL AFAR, NORTHERN IRAQ.

A rare instance of good use of our tax euros. Belgian Special Forces take up position on top of a building in Tal Afar as the Iraqi Army's operation to drive IS out of that town unfolds:











Via ABCNews:

Iraqi Forces said Wednesday they have captured two neighborhoods on the edge of the Islamic State-held town of Tal Afar.

Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah, who commands the operation, said special forces drove the militants from al-Kifah al-Janoubi on the southwestern edge of the town, and that federal police and paramilitary units took al-Kifah al-Shamali in the northwest.

Iraqi leaders often declare areas liberated when some fighting is still underway.

Last month, Iraq declared victory over IS in Mosul, the country's second largest city, after a grueling nine-month campaign. The Tal Afar operation began Sunday, and is aimed at driving IS from one of the last major pockets it controls in Iraq.

As in Mosul, the U.S.-led coalition is providing airstrikes as well as other forms of support to Iraqi troops, and U.S. and other special forces are operating near the front lines.

British Maj. Gen. Rupert Jones, the coalition's deputy commander, said Iraqi forces are off to a "really positive start" and are "closing the noose" around the militants.

"The key is that they've broken into the city," he told Pentagon reporters via videoconference from Baghdad.

The extremist group has lost most of the territory it seized when it swept across northern and central Iraq in the summer of 2014, and has also suffered major losses in Syria.

But the coalition estimates that the group still has some 2,000 fighters in Tal Afar and 2,500 in the Syrian city of Raqqa, where U.S.-backed Syrian forces are fighting the group.

So SecDef Vandeput really made good on his word, there are SF assisting the IA.

A couple of side notes:

a.) good that apparently a more appropriate camo has been issued, even if it's still a wood pattern in a desert environment, for the regular Belgian army camo would be totally out of place. Even though the pattern has its advocates, personally I have never been very fond, to say the least, about the typical jigsaw camo. You can see it in the video below.

b.) The guided missile system is the Israeli-made Rafael Spike-MR, of which the Belgian Army bought 66 systems for 41 million EUR in 2012. MR stands for, of course, medium range, and in Israel the system is dubbed as "Gil". The weight of the missile is 14 kg (30 lb 14 oz), and its minimum range is 200 m, while its maximum range is 2,500 m (1.6 mi). Given that IS has no armor save a couple of obsolete Russian tanks which by now have probably all been obliterated, the deployment of Spikes may seem overkill, but the missile is not only anti-tank as most articles accompanying these photos suggest, Spikes can also be used as anti-personnel weapons.

The following video shows Belgian troops testing the Spike for the first time in the NATO training area of Bergen-Hoehne, Germany.





In the Belgian Army and SF, the Spike replaces the old Milan systems.


c.) On top of that building there's also US troops from the 82nd Airborne, and their equipment provides an interesting study in contrast with the Belgian detachment's:





I guess that's a BGM-71 TOW. I'm a bit surprised these weapons are still in use, I thought that by now they had all been replaced by FGM-148 Javelins.

Video of that weapon:





d.) Belgian soldiers prefer to sit on concrete blocks, American soldiers apparently think they are on the beach.



MFBB.

BAF F-16'S TO STAY IN JORDAN TILL THE END OF 2017.

Soon the scheduled 1-year tour of the six-strong F-16 BAF detachment, operating since July 2016 against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria from a Jordanian AFB, will come to an end. But it now appears four planes will stay longer, till the end of 2017. Via HLN:

"Four Belgian F-16's will prolong the mission in Syria till the end of the year. An agreement exists, said PM Charles Michel during his visit in Montreal in Canada. The question will be part of the agenda of the next council of ministers. "We have reached an agreement about prolonging the mission of four (of the six, red.) F-16's to fight terrorism in Syria", said Michel. The agreement came after a meeting with Minister of Defence Steven Vandeput (who has been championing prolonging the mission for some time already) and with key ministers.

Since OCT 2014 Belgium deploys six F-16 fighter bombers in the fight against ISIS. The operations, first over Iraq, later over Syria, take place from the Al Azraq base in Jordan.

At the time (in mid-2015, after the first year-long stint during which Belgium and The Netherlands operated simultaneously with six jets each from Jordan), Belgium had agreed with The Netherlands to each intermittently deploy F-16's during six month intervals. This in order to help press down costs per fiscal year. The Netherlands has let it be known however that on July 1st, it will not (yet) take over the baton again. Which is why Belgium was asked to prolong the mission of its F-16's.

Belgium will thus further deploy, from July 1st till the 31st of December, four F-16's, supported by 110 ground personnel (of which around 20 temporarily). A Red Card Holder team of four will operate from Qatar.

The missions undertaken by our jets for the international coalition remain unaltered. Only the number of flying hours will decrease from 400 to 250 per month, Minister of Defense Steven Vandeput said. The cost of prolonging the operation is estimated at 17 million EUR."

Several conclusions and observations:


a.) It is clear that years of pounding ISIS strongholds and infrastructure have taken their toll on ISIS and that from an operational POV, it makes perhaps sense to tone it down a bit, if only for the reason that there are less targets to bomb.

b.) At the same time, it should be clear that in the greater scheme of things, the International Coalition's anti-IS operations are, in fact, but the sideshow. The REAL battlefront is the West, where islamization is in full swing on almost every front, and where the ruling political class is pretending not to see that ISIS and the spread of islam in our countries are two sides of the same coin. Failure to understand this will lead to Europe's doom first, and ultimately also the US's.

c.) Belgium's eagerness to prolong the mission must, alas, be seen against the backdrop of President Trump's lambasting the majority of NATO countries for not doing their part in the coalition, leaving the burden of financing it to the American taxpayer. As we have already noted on these pages, General Delcour, a retired Belgian Defence Chief of Staff, opined in 2015 that the Belgian government sees the deployment of our fighter bombers as a smokescreen to hide our lack of committment and the unwillingness to spend 2% of our GNP on defense as "agreed" on the NATO summit in Wales a couple of years back. General Delcour litterally said that "Belgium is a freeloader on the NATO train."

d.) The Netherlands is more serious on defense than Belgium of course, but even so, the country's failure to find sufficient cash to deploy a mere six jets for its next tour - after all, the Dutch have been away from the theatre for a year now - is troubling, to say the least. Especially in light of the fact The Netherlands's GNP is about 1.5 times that of Belgium. It is clear that a welfare state comes at a great cost.


MFBB.

BAF DETACHMENT IN JORDAN: UPDATE.

Via the BAF website:





Belgian Secdef Steven Vandeput and several MP's had arranged to be present when the F-16 which logged the 7,000th flying hour since OCT 2014 landed on the Jordanian AFB whence the BAF detachment operates. In a first phase, the Belgian jets only conducted anti-IS missions over Iraq. Since July of 2016, they also fly missions over Syria. The total of missions over both countries since July 1, 2016 is 326, accounting for some 3,400 flying hours. Of those 326 missions, some 45 per cent were 'kinetic', meaning ordnance was dropped.

The pilot who logged the 7,000th hour, had just completed a 5-hour flight. I suppose he was refuelled once.


Some stills since all those videos disappear after a couple of months:




Vandeput (N-VA) is the guy in the center, in the dark blue blazer. He has vowed to bring the defence budget to 1.9 per cent of GNP in some three years, but I wouldn't hold my breath.











In other news, the Belgian government finally gave the green light for the procurement procedure which will lead to the F-16's replacement after some 35 years of faithful service in the Belgian Air Force. Via The Brussels Times:

"Appropriate cabinet ministers including the Prime Minister, Charles Michel, gave the Defence Minister, Steven Vandeput (of the New Flemish Alliance) the authority to send out invitations to tender. In government jargon these are known as “Requests for Governmental Proposals” - RfGPs).

These will be sent to five Government contractors, three European and two American. Each are offering to provide a different aircraft for this contract, with an initial total value of 3.59 billion euros.

It is thought that the total cost of the programme may come to some 15 billion euros throughout the future anticipated lifetime of the fighter, likely to be 40 years.

This invitation to tender, originally hoped by the military to be undertaken by the beginning of 2015, is eagerly awaited by the five manufacturers in contention. These are the American companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the French aircraft manufacturer Dassault, the Swedish Saab and British BAE Systems. They are respectively offering the F/A-18F Super Hornet, the F-35 Lightning II, the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, the Rafale F3R, the Saab JAS 39 Gripen E/F and the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Mr Vandeput recently mentioned that his intention and that of the government was still to sign the purchase contract “in the second half” of next year. This will be after the analysis of tenders which, to be successful, will need to contain an economic component.

The Military Procurement Committee had last week given the green light to starting the procurement procedure, but had done so within conditions which the opposition denounced as lacking transparency."

~ Lars Andersen, The Brussels Times

I sincerely hope the venerable F-16's successor will be the F-35. I recall that when I was a student in Ghent more than 30 years ago, two of the other competitors, the Gripen and Rafale, were already operational. The Super Hornet is essentially a 4th Gen design, which entered service in the mid-nineties. If it is not the F-35, I hope it will at least be the Eurofighter Typhoon, the fifth contender in the race.

Not choosing the F-35 would not be a smart move, given the fact that with every passing year, the defence policies of Belgium and The Netherlands get more aligned. Certainly the top brass in both countries' militaries have expressed a desire to see the F-35 enter BAF service, espcially since the Dutch already operate the plane. The current operation in Jordan is a case in point of the desirability of operating the same jets.

Belgium never belonged to the pan-national JSF consortium like The Netherlands and a host of other countries did, courtesy the fierce opposition of our 'friends' the socialists and greens, SP.a/Groen! and Parti Socialiste/Ecolo alike. But it's not too late to correct that error.


MFBB.

RECOMMENDED VIDEOS: SF EXERCISES OVER ARIZONA.

About one hundred Belgian Special Forces and two C-130 transports are currently exercising in USMC Air Station Yuma, Arizona, of all places. Although it makes sense. Exercises like this are basically not possible in land-strapped Belgium. Via Aviation Week, 2 March:

"Belgian para-commandos are honing their skills during Exercise Belgian Beast in the Arizona desert Feb. 13 to March 12. Some 100 members of Belgium's Special Forces Group and pathfinders are practicing tactical air insertion from high altitudes wearing oxygen masks.

The drops are done from 12,000 feet, with high altitude, high opening drops involving opening parachutes after five seconds, allowing landings several kilometers away, while high altitude, low opening drops land in a smaller area.

After landing, the para-commandos conduct live firing exercises and tactical ground movement, as well as operating with joint terminal controllers for close air support. They are also doing free-fall paradrops while being filmed by cameramen from Belgium's Parachutist Training Center so instructors can give them feedback to improve their skills.

The para-commandos are being supported by two C-130s from the Belgian air force's 15th Wing based at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma during the exercise. When they are not dropping men and materiel, the C-130s and their flight crews practice low-level and night flying with night goggles, as well as landing on short desert strips.

The desert area around Yuma resembles some of the countries where Belgian forces have actually been deployed: Afghanistan, Iraq and Jordan. Unlike Belgium, it offers wider spaces to train and materiel can be dropped from high altitudes without the risk of causing damage on the ground. The wide open spaces allow Belgian paratroopers to obtain their qualifications much quicker in Arizona than they can in Belgium."

HALO, HAHO, stacks:





The venerable Hercules, pending the arrival of the Airbus A400M, is still the workhorse of Belgian Army air transport:





High altitude matériel droppings (HAADS - High Altitude Air Delivery System) are also exercised. According to "Peter", the droppings depend solely on the reigning winds, which differ from height to height. The goal is to deliver a crate within a 300 meter radius from the designated landing point, "but we haven't been able to do that yet".





Videos via the Belgian Army website.


MFBB.

BAF OPERATIONS OVER SYRIA AND IRAQ: UPDATE.

Via the BAF website, this interesting video about the operations of our F-16's from a Jordanian AFB. It dates from 30 september:





Some background info from Janes:

"Belgian-Dutch co-operation in air operations against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is having a larger impact than the two countries' "modest air forces" could have on their own, the chief of the Belgian air forces said on 30 September.

Major General Frederik Vansina cited synergies in the use of maintenance equipment and the minimisation of the logistical footprint and deployment costs among the benefits of Belgium's partnership with the Netherlands in operating a European Participating Air Forces (EPAF) expeditionary air wing from Jordan. Belgium and the Netherlands take turns as the lead nation, providing F-16s for Operation 'Desert Falcon', with the supporting nation providing force protection.

Six Belgian Air Force F-16s and 96 personnel were deployed to Jordan for a year from 1 July, providing close air support (CAS), air interdiction, and air reconnaissance over Iraq and Syria. Maj Gen Vansina described a battle rhythm of two to four sorties averaging five hours each on six flying days a week, with the seventh day devoted to maintenance.

Between 1 July and 25 September the Belgian F-16s logged 1,115 hours during 220 sorties and 105 missions, mostly over Iraq.

Three-quarters of these missions were for CAS, 13% were air interdiction missions, and 12% were reconnaissance sorties. Some 44% of the missions were 'kinetic', involving the dropping of laser- or GPS-guided bombs. Maj Gen Vansina declined to reveal further details of the ordnance expended but said imagery of 355 "points of interest" was provided by the reconnaissance missions.

He said Belgian F-16s encountered more air defence activity in the form of anti-aircraft artillery and machine guns over Syria than over Iraq, but that they were flying too high to be affected. He claimed 100% mission effectiveness and adherence to the rules of engagement without any collateral damage.

The general added that there was no connection but rather co-ordination with Russian air operations through the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar."

It is indeed true that The Netherlands and Belgium take turns in providing jets to the anti-IS mission. From SEP 2014 to July 2015 our countries operated simultaneously, but then our detachment was sent home due to budgetary reasons. The Dutch continued until July of this year, when we took over again. This BAF mission will end in July 2017, after which the RNLAF takes over again.

Base protection however is always the responsibility of the country not deploying jets. So in 2015/2016 there was a Belgian platoon of infantry guarding the Dutch jets, whereas currently a Dutch platoon is deployed to protect the Belgian jets.


Some stills of the video, because all videos seem to disappear after a while:



















Some points yet.


a.) There was quite a row some two weeks ago when Russia accused Belgian jets of having killed 6 civilians in the village of Hasajek near Aleppo on 18 October, a claim Belgian Secdef Steven Vandeput immediately denied vehemently. It is always possible, of course, but I consider it highly unlikely since Vandeput and the top brass of the Air Force are boasting forever of their absolute commitment to avoid "collateral damage", the necessity of approval for each strike from a "Red Card Holder" etc. And to the best of my knowledge the Russians have still not backed up their claim with unequivocal proof. I actually find it quite rich from the Russians to come complaining about innocent civilian casualties when they themselves are known to bomb without much regard for civilian losses (I'm being polite here). They also deploy thermobaric weapons, like the ODAB-500 PM, see this video:





Not only do thermobaric weapons kill indiscriminately within a certain radius depending on the charge, but the ODAB-500 PM's the Russian Air Force uses in Syria are unguided! And only a couple of weeks ago the presence in Syria of the TOS-1A BM-1 Solntsepyok finally got the press coverage it deserves, since this multiple rocket launcher mounted on a T-72 chassis, nicknamed 'Blazing Sun' reportedly kills everyone inside a 200 by 400m rectangle. The 24 thermobaric missiles fired from 220mm tubes are also unguided - so Russia is really not the most credible party to deplore civilians killed or maimed in the Syrian conflict.


b.) At the beginning of the BAF's latest deployment, on July 1 of this year, news was that our jets would use GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs (SDB's) to even further reduce the risk of killing innocent civilians. The SDB's in question would be units on loan from the Dutch, since The Netherlands seem to have had them in their inventory for a couple of years already. Belgium, which ordered its SDB's much later, will only receive their units towards the end of 2017, and word was that the first ones arriving would be handed over to the RNLAF to compensate for the ones we used over Iraq and Syria.

However, the last but one pic above clearly shows a GBU-12 Paveway II, a laser-guided bomb based on the "dumb" Mk82 500-pound bomb. So either we aren't using the Dutch ordnance for one reason or another, or we do, but not always, i.e. only when it absolutely has to be a pinpoint attack. This would make sense to me, since the unit cost of a GBU-39 is almost double that of a GBU-12 (40,000 US dollars to 21,896 US dollars).


c.) And then I have some trouble computing the video still of the large building in the last pic. I assume this must pass for a storage facility for IS vehicles or weaponry of some kind. An explosion like that is spectacular, of course. But would ISIS, two years into the war, still use large, blocky, easily recognizable structures like that for storing valuable stocks? If I were them, I would by now store my stuff in a dispersed manner, in smaller compounds which look innocent from the air. Is it not possible that targets which are so obvious are mere decoys, and that IS has spread the word they contain ammo or AFV's or whatever? I just hope the Coalition's intelligence has calculated this possibility in.


MFBB.

BAF F-16 DETACHMENT IN JORDAN, SOME PICS.

In early summer, the Belgian government dispatched a small squadron of six F-16 fighter-bombers to an air base in Jordan. Since then, they have been deployed against ISIS targets in both Iraq and Syria. Some non-specified but atmospheric shots:
























All photos courtesy the MoD website.


There's a story to be told here about the F-16s going into battle with the regular ordnance instead of the small diameter bombs (GBU39s) the Dutch Air Force is already using. It seems that, since we do not yet have the SDB's, the ones we use are on loan from the Dutch. When the BAF's start to arrive - they have been ordered, but there seem to be delays in either production or delivery - a corresponding number to the ones used should then be given back. Or so I'm told.

Anyway, I'm not an expert, but the ordnance I see on these pics doesn't seem to be SDB's. I do see a strange grey capped bomb or pod slung under the fuselage center though. Also visible are the sniper pods.


MFBB.

SIX BAF F-16 JETS DEPLOYED TO JORDAN, WILL CONDUCT ANTI-IS MISSIONS OVER IRAQ AND SYRIA.

Last Monday, a six-plane detachment of F-16 figher bombers left Belgium for an air base in Jordan, whence they are to conduct combat missions against ISIS.





Via the BAF site:

"On Monday, June 27 2016, six F-16 fighter planes left from Kleine Brogel AFB for Jordan. For one year they will contribute to the coalition against IS.

Defense Minister Steven Vandeput and Major General Frederik Vansina, BAF Commander, were present. The Belgian detachment will take over from their Dutch colleagues. This had been agreed among the coalition partners last year already. The Belgian effort in Operation Inherent Resolve, the coalition war against IS, accounts for around five per cent of the total. Apart from the six jets and their pilots there's ground crews underway, as well as staff personnel, to be stationed in HQ's in Qatar and Germany (Ramstein).

Minister Vandeput expects the Belgian F-16's to once again play a role in pushing back IS, especially in Iraq, and when necessary in Syria: "We have ourselves found out, on March 22, what IS means for our own security. It is clear that we must guarantee the safety in our own country, but if we want to beat IS in the long term, we will have to do it in their turf, in the Middle East."

The Belgian F-16's received a software update just prior to departure, a new step in the continuous modernization of their capacities. Major General Vansina emphasizes the importance of decent material and training: "Our F-16's aren't the youngest, but they are continually being modernised. They are still equal to F-16's in other air forces, so we are equipped [for battle against IS] just as well. Our pilots' training is also world class. We have a lot of young, motivated personnel doing just fine."

A video taken at Kleine Brogel last Monday:





During their previous stint in Jordan, from September 2014 to June 2015, our F-16's flew over 600 missions and destroyed 107 IS targets, but only in Iraq. This time round, they will also conduct missions over Syria.


MFBB.

BELGIUM F-16'S TO RESUME ANTI-ISIS OPERATIONS FROM JULY 1ST ONWARDS, "PROBABLY" ALSO OVER SYRIA.

From July 1, 2016 on, the Belgian Air Force will resume bombardments against IS targets "in the Middle East".

From September 2014 till summer 2015, a small detachment of six F-16 fighter bombers operated from a Jordanian AFB, conducting some 700 airstrikes with in excess of 100 IS targets destroyed. The detachment was then withdrawn, a move for which budget reasons were cited.

Belgium and The Netherlands being neighboring countries with a high degree of cooperation in numerous fields including defense, will from this summer on switch roles in the bombing campaigns.

For the Belgian component, the key difference may well be that this time, airstrikes on IS targets in Syria are not excluded:

Via Expatica.com:

"Belgium mulls Syria IS airstrikes

2nd March 2016

Belgium is considering extending its F-16 airstrikes against Islamic State jihadis in Iraq into Syria as part of stepped up efforts by the US-led anti-IS coalition, Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said Wednesday.

"I think you cannot just limit your actions to Iraq without pursuing these actions across the border when these terrorist groups cross the border" into Syria, Reynders told Bel-RTL radio.

"The Netherlands has come to the same conclusion and the Danes, and I think we are in the same position," he said.

Belgium launched its first attacks against Islamic State (IS) targets in Iraq in late 2014 but, like several other countries in the coalition, it decided against extending the air campaign into war-torn Syria amid public fears over getting dragged into a wider conflict.



However the bloody Paris attacks in November, which were claimed by IS, radically changed sentiment in favour of strikes in Syria.

As well as the Netherlands and Denmark, Britain has also changed tack and launched its first sorties against IS targets in Syria in December.

Reynders said that against this backdrop, the government would take the matter to parliament where many MPs want to go further, perhaps even to involve Libya where IS has made recent inroads.

He gave no timetable.

Washington has pushed its allies hard to step up the campaign against IS. The Belga news agency said US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter had written to his Belgian counterpart Steven Vandeput urging him to support airstrikes in Syria."

I offer my heartfelt condolences to the relatives of the deceased today, victims of callous islamic terrorism.

I encourage all the people of good will to pray for the dead, the wounded and their families, at this very moment undoubtedly torn with grief.



MFBB.

BALTIC AIR POLICING FROM AMARI, ESTONIA.

Four Belgian F-16s currently operate from Ämari Air Base in Estonia, as part of NATO's Enhanced Air Policing Mission (EAPM).




Ämari Air Base is located in Harjumaa, a northwestern county in Estonia, at the Gulf of Finland. The base is located 7 kilometers south of Lake Klooga. During the Cold War, the Soviet Air Force operated from Ämari with 170th and 321st Naval Shturmovik Aviation Regiments, which were equipped with Su-24 Fencers (the same type is currently being used for bombing ISIS). The Estonian Government proposed NATO to use the base to conduct its Baltic Air Policing patrols. Ämari was assessed for that purpose by USAF's 48th Fighter Wing in April 2014. The facility was found suitable for the task, and before long four Danish F-16's started their patrols from there. Since then, there have been regular shifts of NATO four-plane detachments. The base even saw the arrival of F-22 Raptors last autumn.


Here's a rather flashy video made by NATO of our F-16's operating from Ämari:




And while our old F-16's are for the umpteenth time being deployed overseas, the political debate in Belgium still has not given any indication with regards to the Fighting Falcon's successor. If it were up to the military, the F-35 would be it. Despite the F-35's lengthy and costly development period and the difficulties still plaguing the programme, it still remains the obvious candidate for the F-16 replacement. Belgium's defense industry thinks so too - in September 2015 three leading defense companies, Sonaca, SABCA, and Ilias Solutions signed a protocol accord with Lockheed Martin.


MFBB.

BALTIC PIRANHA.

Via RT.com:


NATO’s Baltic Piranha ‘assurance drills’ kick off in Lithuania.

"Nearly 1,000 soldiers and around 100 pieces of military equipment have been deployed in Lithuania as part of the month-long Baltic Piranha military exercise taking place in the framework of NATO’s “assurance measures,” launched in response to perceived “challenges” posed by Russia.

The war games, which will last until October 28, will see 500 Lithuanian soldiers join forces with Belgian, American and Luxembourgian troops.

Some 280 soldiers from Belgium and 45 from Luxembourg have brought with them their own hardware to test it in action as part of the NATO Rapid Reaction Force. Belgians have arrived on board armored Piranha infantry vehicles, while Luxembourg’s soldiers delivered Dingo II reconnaissance vehicles.

The joint Belgian and Luxembourg company will train to provide support for the US Army’s 12th Combat Aviation Brigade soldiers. Currently around 200 US troops are stationed in the country on rotation.

“The exercise will include moving on public roads and parts of it will take place near populated areas, including meetings with local civilian institutions and people,” the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The war games will take place at the Kairiai training ground near Klaipeda, and the firing range at Pagegiu, in addition to other facilities throughout the country."

The Belgian contingent is composed mainly of personnel drawn from the Leopoldsburg-based Bataljon Bevrijding - 5 Linie, a part of the Medium Brigade. It's an infantry unit equipped with the MOWAG Piranha Piranha IIIC 8×8. In 2006, the Belgian Army ordered 242 of them in 7 versions, with a breakup as follows: 99 for troop transport, 32 Df30 variants (armed with a rapid firing 30mm gun), 40 Df90's (armed with a 90mm gun), 24 commando and 18 engineer versions, 12 ambulances, and 17 recovery vehicles.

This deployment to Lithuania of around 25 Piranhas is the first operation abroad for the type in Belgian service:




The Fus DFC C90 (Direct Fire Concept Cannon-90mm) Piranha IIIc 8x8 is the most heavily armed version in the Belgian Army. It is equipped with a 90mm "KEnerga" Mk8 gun produced by CMI (Cockerill Maintenance et Ingénierie) in Seraing, near Liège. The gun is housed in a two-person LCTS 90DA1 turret and uses 90mm ammo specifically designed for the Mk8 gun by Mecar in Nivelles, south of Brussels. Rounds comprise a.o. the M690A1 APFSDS-T which can pierce 300mm steel at a distance of 2 km, and the M691A2 HEP-T which is primarily intended for use against bunkers and lightly armoured vehicles. The DFC C90 has 50 rounds on board, of which 20 are stored in the turret and the rest in the fuselage.




This is the second time in a year that Belgium deploys troops in the Baltic. Following the Russian de facto annexation of the Crimea and Russian involvement in Ukraine's civil war early in 2014, NATO has maintained an air policing mission over the Baltic. Until late summer 2015 this mission involved 16 jets from four NATO countries, operating from Siauliai Airbase in Lithuania, Amari Airbase in Estonia, and Malbork in Poland. For the rotation which finished at the end of August, the policing was done by four Royal Norwegian Air Force F-16s and four Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons operating from Siauliai, four UK Royal Air Force Typhoons from Amari, and four Belgian Air Component F-16AMs at Malbork. The following video shows some great footage of our jets over the Baltic, shot with a GoPro camera:



Since 1 September, the mission has been reduced however to two nations and eight aircraft flying out of Siauliai and Amari only. The current rotation involves four Hungarian Saab Gripens at Siauliai and four Luftwaffe Typhoons at Amari.


MFBB.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO: F-35C'S LANDING ON USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69).

For non-military types: the F-35 basically comes in three variants: the F-35A with conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL), the F-35B short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL), and the F-35C with carrier-based Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR).




The F-35 A is the type the Belgian Air Force needs to replace its ageing F-16 fleet, originally 132 strong, now down, alas, to a paltry 54 planes. Count on the socialists and greens to champion thirty year old designs such as the Gripen, the F-18 or the Rafale - provided you could force them somehow to buy any fighter at all, cause what they really would like to do is abolish the entire Army, Navy and Air Force and with the money thus freed heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelppppppp them poor black people still suffering from colonialism and racism.

No, the F-35 is nearing maturity. Seven years too late, but let it be that way. Unlike the USN's LCS, there's no turning back. Now the type must live up to its promises, and it's got a far better chance at that than the Little Crappy Ship which is basically dead in the water already - no pun intended. Heck, the only other type that would, imho, be a serious contender, is the Eurofighter Typhoon but even that one is 4 1/2 generation at best.

Nope, it's got to be the Lightning II to equip the BAF in the future. Most scenarios plan a replacement fleet of 35 units.


MFBB.

BELGIAN F-16'S OVER IRAQ: 600 MISSIONS, 107 ISIS TARGETS DESTROYED.

The Belgian Air Force released several videos documenting the strikes:




Via the Belgian Armed Forces site:

"To date, the Belgian F-16 detachment in Iraq has destroyed 107 [ISIS] ground targets. The missions are carried out together with an international coalition in the fight against Islamic State, as requested by the Iraqi Army", says Major General Frederik Vansina, BAF commander. "No collateral damage was inflicted while taking out the ground targets".

The Belgian F-16's operate only over Iraq, not over Syria. In the course of six months, they carried out 600 missions, good for about 5 per cent of the total flown by the entire coalition.

Our country still has about thirty military advisors who are training Iraqi soldiers for the fight against IS. According to Belgian Army commander Major General Jean-Paul Deconinck, those Belgian soldiers work in a "highly secure" location near Baghdad's airport."

Some stills of the strikes:





Now for the bad news. While the Iraq mission, following a nine-year BAF presence in Afghanistan and several hundred successful missions against the Qaddafi regime three years back, prove that the small Belgian Air Force can still pull its weight, it should not be forgotten that in the long term its future - indeed, the future of the entire Belgian military apparatus, looks rather bleak. This is what retired Defense Chief of Staff General Delcour had to say last November:

FORMER DEFENCE CHIEF OF STAFF LASHES OUT AT GOVERNMENT'S AUSTERITY MEASURES.

"Belgium has lost all credibility"

"It has become impossible to efficiently run the MoD", General Delcour claims in an open letter. "What strikes me is that only two months ago, during the NATO summit in Wales, Belgium promised to not further reduce its defense budget, while the government's recently taken austerity measures show the exact opposite. This is incoherent and will have serious consequences for the credibility of Belgium and its defense policy."


"Freeloader on the NATO train"

General Delcour sees several dangers in the new defense cuts. "Absolutely necessary investment programmes threaten to be frozen perpetually, merely functioning on a daily basis and training of personnel will suffer. Moreover, Belgium has now for a long time been a freeloader on the NATO train". "Strong international pressure seems inevitable if the budget will be reduced even more.


"The situation is serious."

"The new government would do well to seriously ponder the Belgian defense policy", says General Delcour. "Because we - Belgium, Europe and NATO - have made very serious errors with regards to the evolution of the [European] security situation", referring to the Russian coup in the Crimea and the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. "That Belgium, given the circumstances, should not further hollow out its defense budget seems to me to put it too mildly. The situation is serious."

General Delcour's warning must be seen against the backdrop of the measures taken by the new "center-right" government which was installed in Belgium last autumn (under PM Charles Michel, of the Walloon Liberals). A center left government, a center right one, a centrist one... whatever its leaning, a Belgian government actually conducting a responsible defense policy has throughout history been rather the exception than the rule. Sadly this has been a given practically all the time since the country's Independence in 1830. Only at the time of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), when the Belgian Army was one fifth the size of the French Army, or just prior to WWII, when the Armed Forces fielded 650,000 men, and for some time during the Cold War, could defense policy be considered realistic.

The current predicament of the Belgian Armed Forces goes back to the late nineties, when basically all politicians, of all stripes, seem to have read Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man, and taken its message for granted. The collapse of the USSR and the neutralization of the Saddam regime, brought about by two Republican presidents (Reagan and Bush, although few Belgian politicians will ever admit this), seemed to herald a new era in which armies would, in time, become something of the past. This notion was not significantly disturbed by the events in the Balkans or the war in Chechnya, and during the nineties leftist "intellectuals" openly questioned NATO's raison d'être. With Russia's transition to a free-market democracy seemingly mired in endless convulsions, and both its economy and military in tatters, there seemed to be no need anymore for robust defense spending, and especially since 2000, the Belgian defense budget, which during the Cold War had still been over 4 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, shrank yearly, until by 2009 it represented but a mere 1.2 per cent of GDP anymore.

This was an evolution in fact welcomed by socialists and greens, who never made it a secret that they actually wanted to swap the budgets scheduled for Development Aid (under 0.7 per cent of GDP) and Defense.

Anno 2015 the sad truth is - and this has literally been claimed by General Delcour - that the decade-long deployment of small numbers of fighter-bombers (over Afghanistan, against Gaddafi's regime, and now over Iraq) actually serves as a smokescreen to fool our allies that Belgium still maintains a responsible defense policy. It's quite obvious why F-16's are chosen time and again to participate in the War on Terror - chances of personnel being killed are minimal. I know how the mind of your typical Belgian politician works - he or she is a total military ignoramus and a coward, always whoring for votes. This is of course true for politicians the world over, but even under socialist governments France, The Netherlands and Denmark were willing to send ground troops in harm's way to Iraq and/or Afghanistan, with after some time the inevitable fatalities. In Afghanistan e.g., The Netherlands lost perhaps 20+ KIA. Likewise, Norway, Denmark, and France lost several tens of soldiers killed, and scores more wounded and maimed. Great Britain and Germany took heavier losses. Yet in none of those countries there was a significant outcry "to get the troops back". A single fatality involving a Belgian soldier however would have led to socialist and green bigwigs like a Dirk Van Der Maelen (SP.a) or a Wouter De Vriendt (Groen) hysterically screaming blue murder in Parliament - and I'm not exxagerating.

I do not want to imply that I would have liked the Belgian Army to send a brigade to Afghanistan and would have been happy with body bags returning for the good of our reputation. No, what I want to imply is that these are very serious, even very dangerous times, that, like it or not, the West is at war, and that it has been totally unfair to let our allies pay the blood toll in the theatres in which the War on Terror is fought.

Well... here we are then, with a Belgian Army, Navy and Air Force almost literally starved to death. With less than a shoestring budget, our Armed Forces have done, and are doing, wonders. Ground troops and paras train soldiers in hotspots in Africa; Special Forces have come under fire from Sudanese attack helicopters while protecting refugees in Chad; countless minefields and ordnance have been cleared/neutralized by deminers in Lebanon and Afghanistan. Belgian frigates have done their part in securing naval routes from pirates off Africa's East Coast. As for the Air Force, it has been the only component firing its guns in anger at islamic terrorists from Libya over Iraq to Afghanistan.

The next budget cuts, which will lower the GDP percentage spent on defense even under 1 per cent, may well constitute the final straw. It is highly unlikely that with such meager resources, the means will be found to replace our old F-16 fleet, now down to a mere 60 units (if even that). Gone are the times when the Belgian Air Force fielded over 130 of these sound machines - all of them built under licence in our own country at the SABCA factories in Haren and Gosselies. The most optimistic scenario plans for a successor fleet of 35 jets, and you can bet that socialists and greens will do everything in their might to have the MoD buy the worst candidate.

The world has become a very dangerous place, not in the least because the current US Administration has basically opted for it. In eschewing and even denouncing its own exceptionalism, the US has deliberately created a leadership vacuum - and the natural result is that this vacuum is being filled, though by countries which are far from the benign behemoth that the US basically is. The Russian incursions in the Crimea and Ukraine and the brazen Chinese sabre-rattling in the South Chinese Sea, not to mention a suicidal nuclear deal with Iran are the logical result of America folding back on itself. The world has perhaps become more of a powder keg than we realize, and there's not one, but several fuses smouldering.

Against this backdrop, some European countries do see the sign on the wall: the Baltic Republics, The Netherlands, Germany... All of them have recently boosted their defense budget. The Netherlands intend to pump up the defense budget to at least 2 per cent of GDP, and only weeks ago the German military decided to add some 100-odd mothballed Leopard II tanks to its tank fleet. Both significant measures seem to be to-tal-ly lost on Belgium's political class.

As an example of how deluded the usual suspects among this class are, how about this? Last autumn, the merest mention that a few sane heads in the new government were somehow trying, within extremely tight fiscal constraints, to find a successor for the F-16, evoked shameless demagoguery from seedy characters like the Green's Kristof Calvo:

"AUSTERITY MEASURES FOR FAMILIES, WHILE THE CHEQUE FOR EXPENSIVE JETS IS READY"

Opposition party Groen reacts furiously following the news that federal government negotiators want to invest in a successor for the Air Force's F-16s. "While severe cuts harm families and the man in the street, the cheque for expensive as hell jets has already been signed", says fraction leader Kristof Calvo.

Such shameless demagoguery and utter intellectual dishonesty is common among our moral betters - for the acquisition of new jets (the candidates are the Saab Gripen, the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Dassault Rafale, the F-18, and the F-35) is still meant to somehow being realized without exceeding the paltry 1 per cent or so of GDP. In other words, Calvo is lying. Not more money would be spent, specialists are only looking at means to shifting or postponing certain expenses within the existing budget, in order to at least address the now very urgent need to replace a fighter bomber force of which the youngest planes left the assembly lines around thirty years ago.

Heck, you could abolish the ENTIRE Belgian Army, Navy and Air Force - send all the troops home, sell what few armoured cars, choppers, or minesweepers are left...

.... and you would only end up with a few more bread crumbs more for, say, Social Security - while the country would be defenseless.

The mind of leftists is weird.

I have to end on a positive note - can't allow those bastards to get me depressed. KUDOS for our flyboys!


MFBB.

BELGIAN F-16 JETS DESTROY ISIS REFINERY IN IRAQ.

Two BAF fighter bombers destroyed a small modular refinery operated by ISIS in western Iraq. However, the attack took place around Christmas already, and the info around it is very scant.


The six BAF F-16's on the Jordan AF base they are operating from.



Via Het Nieuwsblad:

"Belgian F-16 fighter bombers have, during the past week, in a nightly raid, destroyed an Iraqi oil refinery of terror group IS, according to a military source on Sunday.

The raid involved two planes and took place in the desert in Iraq's west. IS had installed a modular refinery on the spot, where fuel was being produced for the organization's vehicles.

According to the Belgian F-16 pilot, who wants to remain anonymous, early Thursday morning four laser guided 250-kg bombs were released which destroyed the target.

The pilot added that no casualties on the ground were observed, since at the time of attack the refinery was inactive."

250 kg-bombs? Laser-guided? Although the BAF also uses JDAM's, these must have been GBU-12 Paveway II's.

The good news is that our jets are apparently doing something useful. Although in the greater scheme of things, I fear attacks like these amount to little more than pinpricks. Far more planes and far more ordnance should be used.

The bad news is that we have to learn this from a pilot who wants to remain anonymous. Ergo, NOT via an official channel. Ergo, NOT via some MoD's spokesman. Ergo, the info on the Belgian Air Force's exploits against ISIS is being curtailed.

At the end of the year our planes had released around sixty bombs, or about two every three days. While a very modest tally, the strikes obtained were in all likelihood sufficiently significant to at least warrant some briefings from the MoD. Yet these have not materialized. Which seems strange, since during the first two~three weeks there were some press conferences held where the planes' missions were being detailed.

There can be only one explanation for the current radiosilence, and that is that some jackasses in the government have urged the MoD not to tout successes against ISIS. ISIS support on Belgian social network sites frequented by muslims is large. Are the cowards in government afraid to ruffle the delicate sensitivities of our muslim "compatriots"? Are they scared too much publicity may induce ISIS terrorists to some payback on our soil (as the jihadis offed in Verviers were obviously planning)? Or both?

Probably the latter. Memo to these cowards: if you dare not say out loud that Belgian bombs take out islamic terrs in the desert of Iraq because you're afraid of the reactions of our supposedly well-integrated followers of the prophet (may piss, crap, vomit and menstruation blood be showered upon him in prodigious quantities), then you have a serious problem with that part of our population.

But keep stickin your head in the sand, idiots.



MFBB.

BELGIAN F-16'S TO STAY OVER IRAQ TILL MID-2015; 50 TRAINERS TO ASSIST IRAQI ARMY.

The mission of the 6 Belgian F-16s operating against ISIS from a base in Jordan will be prolonged with another six months, till the end of June 2015. Additionally, the army will dispatch some 50 trainers to assist the Iraqi Army, within the framework of the coalition's Building Partner Capacity program.

It's been almost impossible to obtain hard info regarding the effect of the BAF's airstrikes against ISIS. Last thing I heard myself was when the tally was 18 targets hit (solely over Iraq, our jets don't operate over Syria), but that was two months ago. I suspect the sudden radio silence since then has everything to do with not causing grief to Belgium's sizeable muslim community. There is the fact that ISIS enjoys a tremendous lot of support from our, ahem, well-integrated muslim brethren, a fact easily verifiable online, plus of course Belgium is one of the top European countries per capita to dispatch would be ISIS rambos to Syria and Iraq. So news of our jets vaporizing some target of their champions might lead the more excitable among them to, say, plow a van into an infidel crowd gathered at some Chistmas Fair in one of our cities. Just guessing.

Anyway, I assume our pilots are still continuing the daily two-plane missions. Below you see a recent video shot from a French Armée de l'Air C-135FR tanker resupplying a BAF F-16AM somewhere over Iraq. The jet's ordnance consists of a GBU-12 Laser Guided Bomb and a GBU-38 JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition). There's also two AIM-120 AMRAAMs (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles) and two AIM-9 Sidewinder IR-guided AA missiles, though I can't see the rationale for carrying such an impressive AA armament in a ground attack operation.

The video also shows a French E3-F AWACS being refueled by the same C-135FR. France's ageing fleet of these planes, which are used in the dual role of tanker plane/transport, will be replaced with Airbus A400M's and A330 MRTT's (Multi Role Tanker Transports).




Now for the bad news. Belgium's small but nevertheless not insignificant presence in international military operations hides an extremely unpleasant truth, namely the intention of the current supposedly center-right government to cut the Defense Budget even more to an appalling and totally irresponsible 0.5 per cent of GDP.


I wrote 'supposedly center-right' because that's what it is, the current government under PM Charles Michel (MR) is first and foremost center-right by perception only. It does indeed plan austerity measures but is not truly committed to reduce the country's core problem: the overwhelming size of the state. The government's approach to the crisis remains just as Keynesian as your run of the mill socialist counterpart. On a population of 11 million, about 1.1 million persons are on the government payroll in one capacity or another. Of every 100 EUR spent in Belgium, reportedly 54 or so are being spent via the State's channels. THIS, together with an insane immigration policy, is what is killing our country's economy. Belgium's entrepreneurs and a small intellectual elite of bright engineers and scientists, together with a by and large first-class but ageing workforce in the ever more shrinking private sector, keep the country from sinking. Every day they are succesfully waging their battles against an ever more usurping government, but all of them are like winning generals in a losing war. The only decent strategy to counter the country's demise would be for the state to completely stop hiring employees and not replacing them when they retire, until there are at least 300,000 less compared to the current level. Furthermore an immediate stop to immigration from muslim countries.

Neither will happen, which is why Belgium, like the rest of Europe, will slowly continue its inevitable decline. Despite the best efforts of the private sector, if nothing happens, our economy will share a fate comparable to that of cement and aggregate in a concrete mixer of which the revolving drum turns ever more slowly: ever more regulations and an ever growing state budget will finally cause the whole shebang to seize up.

Against this backdrop, our small military is setting an example of efficiency, virtually the sole one wherever an effort by the State is on display. Now operating on less than a shoestring budget and with the insane prospect of seeing its budget shrink to even less than the one provided for that old bottomless pit of Development Aid, small miracles are still being performed. Our jets are still capable of destroying islamic terrorists thousands of miles away from home, while others help providing aircover over the Baltic Republics; our frigates take part in successful anti-piracy operations off Somalia; and our troops are helping in peacekeeping operations throughout Africa, demining operations in Lebanon, and training missions as far apart as Congo, Benin, Iraq and Afghanistan.



The BNS Leopold I inspecting a suspicious vessel off the Somali coast during the so-called Operation Atalanta.

The irresponsibility and ignorance of the current crop of young Belgian ministers, in the federal as well as in the regional governments (Michel, De Croo, Schauvlieghe, Geens et al) is breathtaking. In an international geopolitical context that is literally screaming for normal nations to augment their defense budgets, this crew sees fit to instead lower its commitment to.... just 25 per cent of common NATO standard. By contrast, up north, in The Netherlands, they have seen the sign on the wall and the MoD's budget there will again be augmented to 2 per cent of GDP. Admittedly, this decision was possibly spurred by the downing of the Malaysia airliner over the Ukraine this summer by a missile delivered by Putin, a tragedy which cost the lives of some 200 Dutch citizens.

But then this appalling example should have been just as clear a message to our politicians: that the world has not become safer over the past years.

The Belgian government's nonsensical decision to decapitate its military is also a clear sign of the total absence of common sense with regards to the growing domestic threat to our native population. And by that I not only mean the danger from terrorist attacks. Any level-headed politican with a minimal grasp of history should be able to foresee the grave threat to the autochton population posed by Belgium's muslim community, with its runaway demographics. Like in every country where the muslim majority at some point reaches a critical treshold - and this treshold may be well below the 50 per cent mark - a civil war is practically a given.

Indeed, a responsible government should quietly prepare TODAY for the eventuality of 2040, to spare the native population as well as the productive part of our immigrants the fate that has befallen so many in countries where islam began roaring its ugly head. My mom's sister runs a B & B in Bruges, and last month there was an affluent Lebanese couple with children among their guests. The man, a maronite Christian, started to bemoan the fate of his beloved Lebanon, which in his young days, when the ratio Christians/Muslims was along 70/30 per cent lines, was rightly considered the Switzerland of the Middle East. These days, he told my mom's sister and her friend, the population ratios had reversed, "and look at what Lebanon has become". Had I been present, I would have pressed on with questions because, according to R. and B., the man was clearly in a talking mood. B. however, my aunt's friend, cut the communication short with a no-brainer like that 'he respected the guest's view but was in no place to take sides'... after which his Lebanese guest politely refrained from continuing.

Anyway, similar mechanisms as have played out in Lebanon and in Europe's own backyard in the nineties are right now on full display in yet other countries, most notably in western Africa. In Nigeria e.g., muslims have been outbreeding the Christians for decades. To be sure, Islam's ascent in this potentially very rich country has throughout history been borne just as well by several jihads, most notably the one against the Hausa rulers in the early nineteenth century. A further factor has ironically been colonialism, which allowed muslims in the north freedom of movement and religion, which they used to travel south and establish footholds there, while the very nature of islam itself prohibited any such development by Christians in the south vectored towards the north. Anyway, whatever factors have borne the rise of islam in Nigeria, the fact remains that muslims now outnumber Christians, with all the expected consequences.

The Nigerian government can perhaps be excused for not having the resources to protect its citizens against the beasts of Boko Haram, who are quite literally tearing the country, once one of the richest of the continent, apart.

The Belgian government has no such excuse.



MFBB.

BELGIAN F-16S OVER IRAQ: 58 MISSIONS, 18 ISIS TARGETS DESTROYED.

Last Friday, VTM News Online sported the following short video:





This video comes right on the heels of the news of the Belgian Air Force CINC change of command, since Lt Gen Claude Vandevoorde has just been replaced by Major General Fred Vansina, until then Chief Operations. After some 6 years at the helm of the BAF, general Vandevoorde now works in an advisory capacity for the new Minister of Defence, Steven Vandeput.

In the video, general Vansina explains that since the beginning of October, the Belgian F-16 detachment has carried out 58 missions and in the process attacked or destroyed 18 Islamic State targets. The most notable mission thus far was a night attack on November 3 whereby two of our jets were leading 6 other coalition aircraft in an airstrike on an IS facility. The facility served as an IED factory and a place where pick-up trucks were converted into the kind of 'technicals' first seen in Somalia: armed with a heavy machinegun in the back and provided with some armour plating. The general stressed that no collateral damage was to be deplored (although how they verify that I have no idea).

This is the ISIS facility in question:




The first bozo who finds this on Google Earth gets 10 randomly picked Playboy centerfolds from Outlaw's Famous Collection. Hint: according to the Belgian Armed Forces website it's in Iraq's north.


Another image released last week by the MoD:




On 31 October, Defence Minister Vandeput claimed that the Belgian airstrikes "make up 12 per cent of the number of interventions by the international coalition". I have no way to verify this, but given the huge number of US missions I assume that by 'international coalition' he means only the non-US flights. Anyway, with a military that has been starved for decades by successive center-left governments (and alas, center-right ones too), this percentage would constitute no mean feat.

Remains of course the question of how useful the coalition's airstrikes are. I would wager that up until now they have been absolutely necessary. ISIS has profiled itself thus far as an organization preferring open warfare involving movement of armor, large-scale infantry assaults, the seizing of strategic objectives and so on. In other words, they have picked up the kind of fights we like: where they are visible and therefore present decent targets.

Their choosing this way of fighting has certainly been an advantage for the coalition. It is for instance clear that the siege of Kobani ultimately ended in disaster for IS because of the airstrikes. As long as they continue to expose their military hardware, we can degrade their fighting capability. While they may be getting the hint that it's better not to present such easy targets, I do not see how they can radically change this kind of warfare without abandoning their goals, since IS has apparently committed itself to militarily act like a nation state. If you want to add territory, oil infrastructure, airfields, highways etc to your inventory, you are going for a wholly different game of ball than, say, Saddamite diehards planting IED's in the Sunni Triangle ten years ago.

The airstrikes should therefore go on, but I see no reason to deploy western 'boots on the ground'. After ten years of building up the Iraqi Army, they should be able to fend for themselves. In 1972, the South Vietnamese were able to stop the NVA's Eastertide Offensive with the help from massive airstrikes conducted by both USAF and VNAF. In the three-month period of the beginning of April to the end of June, 27,745 missions were flown in support of the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) - 20,506 of these by the US Air Force. To the best of my knowledge, these missions stand even apart from the ones conducted under the Linebacker Operation, which targeted Northern Vietnams strategic assets - airfields, bridges, ports, roads, railway systems etc. Just like the Iraqi Army, the South Vietnamese Army had been trained for a decade too, and they were able to stand their own. No 'boots on the ground' were needed any more. No boots on the ground should be needed this time. Of course South Vietnam did collapse a couple of years later, but that was because the Democrats had cut off funding. The US should be careful not to make the same mistake again.

Of course the nascent Iraqi Air Force can in no way be compared to the well-oiled war machine that the South Vietnamese Air Force was (at its peak, in 1974, it fielded 2,076 aircraft of all varieties). Of course the Iraqi Army itself is a joke compared to the ARVN. But then, in the same manner IS is but a laughable opponent compared to the North Vietnamese Army. Plus, the IA is helped in no small part by Kurdish forces in both Syria and Iraq, which divert considerable IS resources. And to put things in perspective, after all IS fields perhaps only some 30,000 ~ 40,000 ground 'troops' - give and take 3 divisions, and they haven't even organised them as such. Possibly there's only a loose scattering of combat groups under the command of the biggest braggers who happen to be around. There may be some kind of general HQ, but I cannot imagine it's in any way comparable to a western army's HQ.

The best way for the West to manage this is therefore to simply continue, and pound. And pound. And pound. And pound. Eventually IS will crack. As for the Belgian F-16 detachment, it will in all likelihood stay over Iraq in 2015. I hope the other contributing countries will do the same.



MFBB.

BELGIAN F-16'S TO STAY IN JORDAN UNTIL 31 DECEMBER.

The Belgian F-16 detachment will stay in Jordan till the end of the year, Belgium's new center-right government under PM Charles Michel (MR) has decided last Thursday, October 24. One month ago, the Belgian Parliament gave the green light to PM Di Rupo's caretaker government's proposal to deploy the detachment over Iraq against ISIS, from a Jordanian base. At the time, a period of only one month was agreed upon, although then already it was virtually certain the planes would stay in Jordan longer. The new defence cabinet under Minister Vandeput [Pieter De Crem's successor - MFBB] communicated only the following short message: "the federal government's decision is that the mission of the F-16 detachment with six jets and 120 ground personnel will be extended till December 31'.

After the initial release of a video showing the destruction of an ISIS target, the Belgian MoD has released basically no information, except for Friday 24, when the destruction of two ISIS targets was confirmed. Earlier this week, probably on Thursday, another target was destroyed. Via HLN Online:




The article mentions that a successful attack [this was during the night of Thursday to Friday - MFBB] was conducted, "without collateral damage", but gives very few details. The MoD spokeswoman is quoted as saying that "since the arrival of the detachment in Jordan more than 25 mission have been flown" and "five targets have been destroyed with great precision".

Some snapshots of our jets in Jordan (photos via Belgian MoD):











Well-spent tax euros for a change.



MFBB.

AFGHANISTAN UPDATE.

As per usual, news of the Belgian operations in AF is scarce, and this situation has in fact not very much improved since the introduction, about one year ago, of weekly overviews by the Belgian MoD, available in pdf on the Belgian Army site. Still, it's better than nothing. These are some nuggets found on the report issued on July 2nd, which covers the week starting on June 24th. I omitted paragraph 1, which dealt with the 300-strong contingent securing KAIA.






In short, for the PRT Kunduz, working closely together with the Germans in that region, there's amongst others talk about the EOD unit destroying and neutralizing ammo and two IED's on June 26th-27th. On the 30th the EOD personnel supported a German field unit.



The first photo shows a soldier from the PRT's EOD team neutralizing what seems to be an RPG round. The second one, an EOD member with one of our new Dingo's. When you look at these vehicles, it seems completely irresponsible ISAF soldiers were issued light Bombardier jeeps and landrovers for patrolling in the early years. Even so, I suspect Dingo's are not immune. I have been wondering whether an armored car with a V-shaped belly, not unlike the WWII-era German Sdkfz 222, would not be better suited to withstand IED's exploding right under the vehicle, since the blast would be deflected sideways under a certain ange. Check out the photos on that last link and you'll see what I mean.


As for the OMLT teams, between the 24th and 30th one was mentoring the activities of the staff of an ANA brigade. The other one was supporting a kandak, I assume that's an ANA infantry battalion. From the text, it would appear that the OMLT troop was assigned between the 24th and the 30th a new kandak to monitor ("eerste contacten met het toegewezen Afghaanse bataljon").




Soldiers from an OMLT team somewhere in Afghanistan's north. The Afghan to the right is possibly not an ANA soldier but someone from a village militia - at least that's what his outfit and headgear suggest. Notice the gun of the soldier on the left: it's an FN F2000 assault rifle, the version with the 40mm FN EGLM grenade launcher. The other trooper has the standard issue FNC assault rifle. Would love to have one of those.


To be sure, I have already read at least one complaint of an OMLT trooper suggesting the Afghans are rather lukewarm to ask for advice. Nuggets of info like that jibe with the not exactly flattering news we have received so far of ANA progress. In fact, a disturbingly high number of reports talk about general inefficiency at best, and outright hostility at worst. It is also quite certain the taleban have infiltrated the ANA, a given underscored today, alas, by the murder of three British troops by a rogue ANA soldier.


Most of the action however clearly was with the six F-16 fighter bombers operating from Kandahar Airfield. The overview reads:

(4) F-16 detachment in Kandahar (OGF):

June 25th: two planned missions, no weapons systems engaged
·
June 26th: two planned missions of which one was retasked to support ground troops in contact with the enemy. Two bombs were dropped [GBU-12's - MFBB]. No collateral damage.

June 27th: two planned missions, no weapons systems engaged.
Also on June 27th: two quick intervention missions in support of ground troops in contact with the enemy. A "show of force" sufficed to end the skirmish.


June 28th: two planned missions of which one was retasked to support ground troops in contact with the enemy. No weapons systems engaged.

June 29th: two planned missions of which one was retasked to support ground troops in contact with the enemy. Strafing with Vulcan cannon. No collateral damage.

June 30th: two planned missions, no weapons systems engaged
Also on June 30th: three rocket attacks on KAF. No Belgian wounded nor damage.

Here's a magnificent shot of one of our F-16's over Afghanistan. This time the PANTERA ('sniper') pod is clearly visible. It represents a sea change compared to the 'old' LANTIRN pod. The armament is standard - I actually do not think the Belgian Air Force in AF uses other bombs than the GBU-12. Apart from that, the imho useless Sidewinders.





This is actually a USAF photo, taken in December 2008, by Staff Sgt. Aaron Allmon. Possibly from a KC-135 tanker.



Belgium has currently some 600 personnel in Afghanistan. While the F-16's have a combat mission, and the EOD unit (often embedded in German columns) and the OMLT teams regularly come under fire, no Belgian unit has as yet seen action or experienced the shock of ground combat like the Brits, Dutch, Danes or Canadians did. The cowardness of Belgian politicians who are otherwise very eager to have the new NATO HQ in Brussels, is appalling. It can even get worse. Negotiations for a new government are currently in a stalemate but there remains a solid chance that the next PM will be Elio di Rupo, chairman of the Parti Socialiste. Would this man make it Belgian PM, the Belgian mission in AF would very likely come in jeopardy, or otherwise reduced to a canteen commando.



MFBB.

BELGIAN GOVERNMENT TO SEND F-16'S TO AFGHANISTAN. SOCIALIST OPPOSITION GOES BONKERS.

For five long years, the bulk of the Belgian ISAF contingent in Afghanistan - 300 troops drawn from various units - has been guarding KAIA, Kabul International Airport, a job I gather is considered the safest in the Hindu Kush. The photo above shows two Pandur troop carriers and two of the new Dingo MPPV's (centre) on patrol in the greater Kabul area (apparently global warming hasn't reached Afghanistan yet). In addition to the KAIA guard detachment, a staff of 60 is performing the actual management of the airport itself. Finally there is a platoon-sized unit assisting the Germans in Kunduz, primarily with demining activities. By contrast, our northern neighbour, The Netherlands, has been actively engaged in the fighting, its contingent being among the five or so NATO contributors which actually confront the Taliban on a daily basis. And the sight of body bags returning to Holland has become, unfortunately, a constant reminder of the danger the Dutch troops are facing. The bulk of the 2,000 strong force - with heavy matériel at its disposal, including mechanized howitzers, scores of tracked AIFV's and Apache attack helicopters, is engaged in the volatile Uruzgan province. They get air support from six Dutch F-16 fighter bombers.

Over the past year, the pressure put on Belgium for doing more in AF has been growing steadily, and when US Secdef Robert Gates recently warned against NATO becoming a "two-tiered alliance of those willing to fight and those wo are not", he certainly must have had Belgium in mind - amongst others.

The Belgium interim government under Guy Verhofstadt - he is to be succeeded by the Christian-Democrat Yves Leterme on March 24, but only fools believe that - has now announced, for the first time, a truly active participation in the fight against the Taliban. Four F-16 fighter bombers and 100 ground personnel will be sent to Kandahar Airfield (KAF), where they will join the six Dutch planes in an Air Task Force. Even though the extra Belgian effort is still very modest, the Dutch are pleased with it. Like Gates, they have been asking for a long time for more support from their partners. Back in June 2007, right after the Belgian parliamentary elections, Dutch PM Jan-Peter Balkenende called Yves Leterme - at the time everyone was still convinced Leterme would quickly assume the post of Belgian PM - and asked him "Yves, do something for us in south Afghanistan!" Too bad for the Dutch June 10, 2007 marked the start of the longest coalition talks in Belgian history, which would ultimately drag on for 192 days during which Verhofstadts caretaker government was unable to answer the Dutch call. And even then no satisfactory accord was reached, since pressure from the EU, which needed an active Belgian government to sign the Lisbon Treaty, forced an interim government upon the Belgians - under Verhofstadt again! This interim government, in its second month now, is actually composed of the losers of the June 10 elections, but there is one bright spot: the disastrous Defense Minister André Flahaut (Parti Socialiste) has been succeeded by Pieter De Crem, a Christian Democrat who under Verhofstadt II had constantly lamented the demise of the Belgian military. And it is De Crem who has been the catalyst in the decision to send the fighter bombers to aid the Dutch. To be sure, this is not the first time Belgian F-16's head to Afghanistan. Four other ones were deployed from KAIA two years ago, but Flahaut did not permit combat flights, only patrols. This time will be different, and the planes will be actively engaged to pound Taliban positions - a welcome reinforcement for the Dutch, be it, unfortunately, only from September on.

Socialists would not be socialists if they did not object to even this almost negligible contribution. Barely had the decision been announced or Dirk Van Der Maelen, MP for the SP.a (Flemish socialists) asked for a parliamentary round to debate the deployment. To illustrate how extremely difficult it is in Belgium to pursue a realistic defense policy, including a responsible and fair attitude within the NATO framework, I'll now cite several top ranking SP.a officials:


a.) Caroline Gennez, Chairwoman SP.a, a cunt of the first order.

"Belgium should not blindly wage a war. This is an unwinnable war. We absolutely disagree to send combat troops at a time when the conflict escalates."

b.) Ludwig Vandenhove, Chairman of the Defense Commission in Parliament. Asshole Superdeluxe. Vandenhove on February 7, 2008, during the debate on the mission in Parliament:

"If the government decides to commit our country and our soldiers to such a dangerous, lost war, it is only logical that this decision is explained as quickly as possible in Parliament. In addition, because of this engagement, Belgium will become more than ever the target of terrorist attacks."

c.) Johan Vandelanotte, MP, former SP.a chairman. Wants to starve what remains of the Belgian Army by reducing its strength of 40,000 to 20,000 and cutting its budget in half. The money thus freed should go to development aid, even when it is crystal-clear that 50 years of extensive Belgian development aid in a.o. Africa has achieved nothing.

"Pieter De Crem is the errand boy of Balkenende."

d.) Dirk Van der Maelen, MP and Fraction Leader for SP.a. A coward, a f*cking dhimmi and an outspoken enemy of corporate Belgium. Got himself huffed and puffed up two years ago in the Belgian press with a litany against Paul Wolfowitz and the pay raise the latter gave to his girlfriend. Was less concerned about the fact that a certain Sabine Steels, girlfriend of his mate Patrick Janssens, the socialist mayor of Antwerp, landed herself without exams a cushy job as Antwerps "Safety Director" via a stop between Janssens sheets. But I digress. Van der Maelen on sending just four Belgian jets to AF:

"Now that George W. Bush sees the end of his term, he realizes all the more that he will enter history as the president who lost two wars (Iraq and Afghanistan). Hoping that American troop reinforcements can turn the tide in a lost cause, the US are pushing for more. But do we really want to go to Afghanistan to save the honour of Bush?

...

Therefore we plead to open the debate and, e.g., think about a bigger role for the UN. A greater UN-mandate directed at development and stabilization, reinforcement of the institutions... that is what the country needs. No poodle wagging his tail running after Bush without a thought, in the process wasting money which harms purchasing power or, worse, endangers the lives of soldiers and/or citizens."

[note from MFBB: I fail to understand how the purchasing power of Belgian citizens can be badly affected with a Defense budget amounting to 1.3% of the GNP. If Van Der Maelen was really concerned about our purchasing power, he might want to do something about our taxes, among the highest in Europe.]


Just remember, these ball-less assholes are total military ignoramuses - I doubt there is even one among them capable of distinguishing a spare track for a Leopard from an ammo canister.

But there is more.

Money and defense, sometimes they do go together for or moral betters.

A "high" mark in the not so brilliant history of Belgian contributions to NATO is the appointment of Willy Claes to NATO Secretary General in September 1994 - an function he held for a mere fifteen months, when he was forced to step down. The reason? The involvement of Claes in the so-called "Agusta scandal", an affair whereby the socialist parties (both the Flemish and Walloon ones) received kickbacks for pushing the Belgian Army in 1988 to buy 48 mediocre A-109 attack helicopters from the Italian helicopter maker Agusta S.p.A.. Trials had revealed other choppers to be far better, but Agusta sealed the US$267-million contract by paying the Flemish Socialistische Partij US$1.72 million in bribes. When the purchase took place, Claes was Economic Affairs Minister. Six years later, as NATO Secretary General, he first vehemently denied any knowledge of the payments, then admitted that he had indeed been at a meeting where the kickbacks were discussed. As the investigation into Claes' involvement deepened, the affair began to stink to high heaven. Still, even as late as February 27, 1995, the Vice President of the United States, a certain Al Gore, deemed it necessary to issue a statement saying:


"The United States has full and complete confidence in Secretary General Claes."

It should be noted that Agusta was a state-owned company controlled by Bettino Craxi's PSI, the Partito Socialista Italiano. If you still have the stomach to follow that link, yes, that's a hammer and sicle in the PSI's logo. The difference between Italian socialists and Italian communists is basically that the former have a better stocked canteen. Where was I? Oh yes, Claes. Back in 1988, when the decision to buy the A-109's was taken, two ministerial signatures were absolutely needed. One was the signature of Willy Claes as Minister of Economic Affairs, as we have seen. The other one was, of course, the signature of the Defense Minister himself. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! The Defense Minister in the late eighties was none other than Guy Coeme, a Walloon of the Parti Socialiste!!!!! By the time the scandal broke out, this illustrious predecessor of André Flahaut was being investigated not only for his involvement in the Agusta scandal - the PS also received part of the bribes - but into another scandal as well, namely the payment by French aircraft manufacturer Dassault of a 2 million US$ bribe to the Walloon Socialist Party for a contract to modernize the Belgian Air Force's F-16 and Mirage III jets in 1989. This affair became known as the case of "The Three Guys", since the main protagonists were Guy Coeme, the Parti Socialiste Defense Minister, Guy Spitaels, the Chairman of the Parti Socialiste, and Guy Mathot, a former Budget Minister from the Parti Socialiste whose most memorable quote regarding the Belgian state deficit was: "the deficit came out of the blue, it will disappear the same way."

All three had to resign in 1994, and it seems the success of the investigation was due to the results of yet another investigation, namely the inquiry into the murder of a former Parti Socialiste Chairman, André Cools, who was shot in broad daylight in 1991 in Liège, reportedly because he had threatened to reveal nasty details about the party's finances - not that Cools himself was a saint, far from. However, you know how it goes in the Mafia. But the really interesting year with regards to the bookkeeping of both the Socialistische Partij and the Parti Socialiste was 1995, when Etienne Mange , chief of the Belgian Postal Services AND Treasurer of the Flemish Socialist Party (and a close collaborator of Willy Claes) - was arrested in connection with the Agusta kickbacks. When Belgian magistrates discovered a secret bank account in Switzerland early in 1995, Mange confessed that the Flemish SP had indeed received a gift of $160 million Belgian francs (the 1.72 million US$ from above, you will recall) from Agusta via a Swiss bank account held by Luc Wallyn, a Belgian employee of the European Commission (as a sidenote, Wallyn was also vice secretary general of the Flemish Socialist Party). It was Mangé who sealed Claes' fate. He told the police that he had discussed Agusta's offer to pay bribes to the Flemish Socialist Party with a.o., Claes. Claes finally stepped down in December 1995. While it is entirely possible that even at that stage Al Gore still had full and complete confidence in the man - Socialists-'R-Us - most if not all NATO officials had by then distanced themselves from their chief, one US official saying that the real question "was how Willy Claes could have gotten NATO Secretary General in the first place." He was right. In the early eighties, the Reagan administration installed tactical nukes in Western Europe, a.o. in Belgium. This to counter the threat of Soviet SS-20 tactical nuclear missiles already deployed. In Brussels, a giant demonstration was staged by the usual moonbats: 400,000 people, the largest in Belgian history. One of the prominent organizers was... Willy Claes.

And so we can conclude that you can always count on socialists to do the wrong thing after they have tried all the other wrong things. They were dead wrong in opposing US nukes while they were hunky dory with their Soviet counterparts - and one of the great unwritten books of that timeframe is the one dealing with the reportedly very intensive and friendly contacts which then existed between western european socialist parties and their comrades from across the Iron Curtain. They were dead wrong when Afghanistan was invaded by the USSR - I have been a keen follower of Belgian politics since I was 16, and I can assure you that our dear do-gooders never questioned the Soviet invasion - quite unlike another "invasion" in the region some five years back. They were dead wrong in the Agusta and Dassault scandals, and they were dead wrong in the first Gulf War, when the socialist Defense Minister refused to sell artillery ammo to the UK. And speaking of Iraq, they were dead wrong when they did everything to hamper the preparations for OIF, the lunatic André Flahaut at some point even threatening to deny Belgian airspace to US warplanes.

And now they are dead wrong in opposing the dispatching of a mere flight of four fighter bombers to Afghanistan to be deployed against islamic extremists of the worst possible kind - who just days ago blew up 80 marketgoers in the worst carnage since the country was liberated in 2001.

What do our moral betters from the SP.a propose then, apart from getting the UN involved? Well, as you probably know by now, Messrs. Claes, Vandenhove, Vandelanotte and Van der Maelen, to name but a few, are the co-authors of a pact between Belgium's so-called democratic parties to never talk or form coalitions with the Vlaams Belang, Flanders' only truly conservative party. This situation is called the so-called cordon sanitaire. With regards to the Taliban, however, the gentlemen propose to hold talks with the "moderate ones" among them.

I get it. For socialists, talks with the VB are haram. Talks with the Taliban however are halal. You know what talks I prefer? I can't wait till those four F-16's start pounding Dirk Van der Maelens preferred speaking partners.




MFBB.