Contract for Belgian F-35 infrastructure goes to Belgian-Dutch-American consortium

A Belgian-Dutch-American consortium has secured the contract to build the infrastructure needed for Belgian's new F-35 fighter jets. Belgium purchased 34 aircraft in October 2018, the jets are expected to arrive in Belgium as of April 2025. The contract is worth approximately 600 million euros. The Belgian Ministry of Defence announced the contract allocation on Thursday.

The Belgian company Jan De Nul Group is involved in the consortium and will be responsible for the new buildings at the bases of Florennes (Namur) and Kleine-Brogel (Limburg). Besides Jan De Nul, the Dutch and American design agencies Arcadis and Burns&McDonnell are involved, according to the website of the Belgian Ministry of Defence. The current infrastructure dates back to the 1950s and 1960s and is hence not adapted to modern fighter jets requirements.

Compared to other NATO and EU countries, Belgium is traditionally near the bottom of the list in terms of defence spending. In the past decades, the country had been steadily scaling down defence, both in terms of material and personnel. This trend changed at the beginning of 2022, as the Belgian government announced a defence budget growth trajectory amounting to an increase from 1.3 percent to 1.54 percent of GDP spent on defence. Mid-March, an additional investment of a billion euros was announced in relation to the war in Ukraine. The purchase of 34 F-35s predates this shift.

(KOR)

Picture shows the military air base in Kleine-Brogel, Belgium © BELGA PHOTO BENOIT DOPPAGNE