Kees van der Mark repor ts from Tucson International Airpor t in Arizona, the home of Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16 pilot training.
One of three F-16 squadrons within the Arizona Air National Guard’s (ANG’s) 162nd Wing at Tucson is dedicated to training Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) F-16 pilots. The 148th Fighter Squadron (FS) ‘Kickin’ Ass’ has ten RNLAF-owned F-16s in Mid-Life Update (MLU) configuration assigned, comprising five F-16AMs and five F-16BMs. The Netherlands Detachment Tucson Arizona (NDTA) has a modest personnel strength of 12 Dutchmen.
The NDTA’s commanding officer since August 2016 is Lt Col Joost ‘Niki’ Luijsterburg, an experienced fighter pilot with close to 4,000 flying hours in F-16s, including F-16C Block 40s during an exchange tour with the 347th Fighter Wing (FW) at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, in 1998- 2000. He is one of five Dutch instructor pilots (IPs) within the 148th, working alongside three American IPs. Other NDTA personnel include a warrant officer, simulator instructor, two mission planners, a logistic officer and two maintenance officers. Servicing and maintenance of the Dutch jets is in the hands of Arizona ANG personnel.
A lasting relationship
The Tucson-b…
