After the Boeing AH-64D Apache was selected by the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) in 1996, the first group of Dutch soldiers left for Fort Hood, Texas. That same year the RNLAF received the first of 12 AH-64A Apaches on loan from the US Army to fill the gap until the delivery of the first Delta aircraft.
In 2013, with the arrival of the CH-47F Chinook and an additional range of duties, the Joint Netherlands Training Detachment was transformed into No 302 Squadron. They are officially part of a US Army unit – 21st Cavalry Brigade, 166th Aviation Brigade at Fort Hood.
The RNLAF Defense Helicopter Command (DHC), together with the Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA) 11th Air Mobile Brigade (AMB), is responsible for the training carried out by the squadron. It came after a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) was drawn up to allow No 302 Squadron to function under an agreement between the two governments.
