Netherlands to order additional F-35As as part of a new defense budget

The Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands will order an additional number of F-35A fighter jets as part of the new defense budget.

The Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands reported on this.

The strengthening of the country’s air component is related to the increasing role of the Netherlands in the defense of the territory of the European Union and other NATO members.

In addition, the political situation in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region is unstable.

According to the plan, three of existing fighter squadrons will be enlarged, which will increase their capabilities and ability to conduct large-scale air operations.

To date, the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands has ordered 52 F-35A fighter jets, with additional orders for six more aircraft.

The first F-35s arrived in the Netherlands from the Cameri Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) plant in northwestern Italy in 2019.

This allowed the Netherlands to become the eighth country in the world to adopt this type of aircraft.

The importance of the Dutch F-35As, which became the first F-35 fighter jets in Europe to receive the appropriate certificate for the use of nuclear weapons, should be noted.

“This transition marks the Netherlands’ ongoing commitment to NATO’s nuclear deterrent strategy, which is vital to the security of the Alliance and the Netherlands,” said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands.

Militarnyi previously reported that the Romanian Ministry of Defense had requested funds from the government to purchase the latest F-35A fighter jets.

It is currently expected that the government will approve the allocation of the priority budget to finance the start of construction of the first Romanian F-35A by Lockheed Martin.