New Recce Pods for Dutch F-16s

A $40-million contract for the supply of RecceLite reconnaissance pod was signed on Dec. 4 between Rafael Armament Development Authority Ltd. (Haifa, Israel) and the Dutch Ministry of Defense. The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) will receive six pods and two mobile ground stations in 2006. The equipment is destined for Volkel airbase, where the RNLAF's reconnaissance squadrons are based.

Initially, 306 Squadron was a Dutch Air Force reconnaissance unit, using Oude Delft (Delft, Netherlands; no longer in existence) Orpheus pods on F-104G aircraft, and the pods were later transferred to F-16A and F-16B aircraft within the unit. In all, 18 F-16As and two F-16Bs, plus two spare F-16A aircraft, were equipped to carry Orpheus pods and designated F-16A(R) and F-16B(R). In 1997 the pods were supplemented with Per Udsen (Grenaa, Denmark) Medium Altitude Reconnaissance System (MARS) pods. The MARS pods employed two KS-87B wet-film cameras, so the system was treated as interim solution only. In 2002, 306 Squadron undertook the training role, and the recon task was transferred to Volkel's other squadrons: 311, 312, and 313. In early December 2005, 315 Squadron was also activated. All of the RNLAF's F-16A/B Mid-Life Update (MLU) aircraft are able to carry the reconnaissance pod (for more on the MLU, see "Improving With Age: Fighter EW Upgrades"), so the task can be performed by any squadron from Volkel, where the ground support equipment and an intelligence-interpretation section is also based.

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