At the end of next year the last Belgian Air Component jet pilot students will complete their training with ETO 2/8 ‘Nice’ at Cazaux in southwest France. Stefan Degraef appraises the bi-national Advanced Jet Training School.
ETO 2/8 ‘NICE’
Around the start of the new millennium, the Belgian Air Component and France’s Armée de l’Air both began to re-evaluate their jet pilot training needs and reorganise their assets.
Belgium had introduced budgetary cutbacks, and overall reductions to the force saw the disbandment of several frontline fighter units. But its pilot training structure, based at Beauvechain, still operated some 29 recently modernised Alpha Jet 1B+ advanced jet trainers. Their update had included a cockpit modernisation, making it more suitable for training future F-16AM pilots.
But with its requirements for new fighter pilots shrinking year on year, Belgium would soon have a modern but oversized jet trainer fleet, consuming much of its annual military aviation operating budget.
Although the Armée de l’Air was also gradually reducing its operational fighter units, it was still in continuous need of new tactical jet pilots to fly the Rafale.
Its lead-in squadrons with the École de Transition Op…
