A pair of Belgian Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16AM Fighting Falcons, leaving RAF Fairford following their appearance at The Royal International Air Tattoo 2017.
The lead aircraft is F-16AM Fighting Falcon, coded FA-70, of 349 Squadron, Belgian Air Component. Its tail is decorated with a special scheme to mark the 75th Anniversary of 349 Squadron in 2017.
The second aircraft is Lockheed Martin F-16AM Fighting Falcon, coded FA-132, of 1 Squadron 'Stingers' , Belgian Air Component. This aircrafts tail is decorated with a special design to commemorate 1 Squadrons 100th Anniversary during 2017. The aircrafts drop tanks also bear the 1 Squadron motto, 'Nemo me impune lacessit' which means 'No one cuts (attacks/assails) me with impunity'.
Today's Belgian Air Component operates a rather smaller force of F-16 Fighting Falcons than did the former Belgian Air Force, but these are now true multi-role aircraft as opposed to pure fighters thanks in no small part to the MLU (Mid-Life Upgrade) programme begun in the 1990s. Belgium ordered an original 116 F-16s as part of a huge deal for the type that also involved Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway; a follow-on order took the fleet to 160. Of those, 54 aircraft now remain in active service with two wings. Belgian F-16s have taken part in coalition air operations over the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, as well as the Baltic Air Policing initiative.
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