Former RNLAF F-16s on delivery to the Jordanian Air Force

On 24 may 1975 the Dutch Government decided to buy 80 F-16 Fighting Falcons with an option for another 18 aircraft to replace the aging F-104 Starfighters. These F-16’s were build in the United States of America and was promoted as “the affordable, best fighter for any Air Force”.

In total the Royal Netherlands Air Force ordered 213 F-16’s of which the first was delivered on 6 June 1979 en the last one on 27 February 1992.

In July 1994 King Hussein of Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel and shortly thereafter the Government of Jordan began to lobby within the American Government to purchase F-16 Fighting Falcons.

In 1996 under the name Peace Falcon I 12 F-16A’s and 4 F-16B’s were leased from the United States Air Force. In 2003 another 12 F-16A’s and 5 F-16B’s were delivered to the Royal Jordanian Air Force under the name Peace Falcon II. Three years later, in 2006 there was a letter of intent for the acquisition of up to 22 F-16’s signed with the Dutch and Belgium Government. The Royal Netherlands Air Force should deliver 5 F-16AM’s and 3 F-16BM’s, but the order for the 5 F-16AM’s was cancelled and the order for the 3 F-16BM’s was postponed. The Belgium Air Force delivered 12 F-16A’s and 4 F-16B’s to the Royal Jordanian Air Force under the name Peace Falcon III. In November 2005 the Dutch Secretary of Defence announced that 6 F-16BM’s, including the 3 from Peace Falcon III, should be delivered to the RJAF in 2006 under the name Peace Falcon IV. This deal was postponed to the summer of 2009. In 2009 the Belgian Government put another 9 F-16’s for sale and the RJAF was the first country to respond. In 2011 another 6 F-16AM’s and 3 F-16BM’s were delivered, under the name Peace Falcon V.

In 2012 the Dutch Government announced that 15 F-16’s are up for sale being 13 F-16AM’s and 2 F-16BM’s and again the RJAF bought them. The delivery was set for 2014 under the name Peace Falcon VI but was ultimately delayed to 2017.

After the sale of these 15 aircraft the Royal Netherlands Air Force had only 68 airframes out of 213 operational! Next to the delivery of 21 F-16’s to the Royal Jordanian Air Force the Royal Netherlands Air Force also sold 18 F-16’s in 2006 and another 18 F-16’s in 2010 to the Chilean Air Force.

On 25 October 2017 the first batch of 6 F-16’s, 5 F-16AM’s and 1 F-16BM departed Volkel Air Base to Al Azraq Air Base. For this journey two fuel stops were made at Aviano Air Base, Italy and Souda Bay Air Base, Greece.

A less more than a month later, on 29 November 2017 another 6 F-16’s, 5 F-16AM’s and 1 F-16BM departed Volkel towards Jordan followed by the last 3 F-16AM’s on 14 December 2017. All these delivery flights have been done by Jordanian pilots.

The Royal Jordanian Air Force took delivery of a total of 79 F-16’s of which 59 are F-16A(M)’s and 20 are F-16B(M)’s. Underneath a nice overview of all the deliveries to the Al Quwwat al Jawwiya al Malakiya al Urduniya – Royal Jordanian Air Force.