F-16AM/BM - Netherlands

The Royal Netherlands Air Force originally purchased 213 F-16A/B aircraft with the air arm being one of the four European Participating Air Forces in the programme and one of 5 countries to build the F-16 locally. Reductions saw the fleet reduced to 68 aircraft, all of them upgraded to MLU standard. All operational F-16s operated by the Netherlands went through the Mid-Life Update (MLU) . A Multinational Operational Test and Evaluation center for the F-16A/B Mid-Life Update was set up at Leeuwarden air base in 1997. As part of on-going defence cuts, the number of F-16s to feature the upgrade was reduced from 170 to 138 in mid-1993.