Dutch practise F-35A, KC-30M dispersal from Schiphol Airport

One of four F-35As, plus a KC-30M, which were dispersed to Schiphol Airport for an Agile Combat Employment exercise. The event was attended by King Willem-Alexander, seen in the centre of the picture. (Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force)

The Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force (RNLASF) has trained for the dispersed operation of its Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) combat aircraft and Airbus KC-30M tanker-transport aircraft from Schiphol Airport on the outskirts of Amsterdam.

Attended by King Willem-Alexander, the exercise was geared at training for the wartime dispersal of four F-35As from their home bases of Leeuwarden and Volkel (and in the future Lelystad) to civilian airports. Support was provided by a KC-30M (the NATO designation for the A330-200 Multirole Tanker Transport [MRTT]), operated by the NATO Multinational MRTT Unit (MMU) at Eindhoven Air Base.

“The Royal Netherlands Air [and Space] Force practised today and yesterday at Schiphol. The aim was to see how military flight movements can be carried out safely and responsibly from a civilian airport. The aircraft carried out several training missions over the North Sea,” the service said on 28 January.

As noted in the announcement, civil air traffic was given priority over military movements for the duration of the exercise. “Our objective is to work safely and also to train without impacting air traffic at Schiphol. In that sense, the [civilian] traveller does not notice anything,” detachment commander Lieutenant Colonel Pilot Pascal Smaal said.

This Dutch exercise is part of a wider NATO doctrine known as Agile Combat Employment (ACE) that is geared at providing the means to deploy aircraft and personnel rapidly between dispersed operating locations without sacrificing combat capabilities.

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