00:00Is Belgium too small a country to use its new fighter jets?
00:07Belgium has found itself the butt of several jokes online after various French media outlets
00:13reported that the country bought a fleet of F-35 fighter jets that it won't be able to
00:18use because its airspace is too small.
00:21The articles all begin with the same sentiment, leaning into the friendly French-Belgian rivalry
00:26by referring to a Blaque-Belge, or Belgian joke, and noting the €5.6 billion sum that
00:33the government shelled out for 34 of the US-made jets back in 2018.
00:38But there's just one problem, according to the French articles.
00:41Being a small country, it won't have enough room to conduct any training exercises with
00:46them, as doing so would impact civil aviation.
00:49However, the jokes are making a mountain out of a molehill, according to Belgium's Defence
00:53Minister Théo Franken.
00:55Speaking to X, he explained that the small size of Belgium's airspace is nothing new,
00:59and that, to make up for it, the country has been carrying out aerial training exercises
01:03both at home and abroad with other jets for years.
01:07As well as planned exercises in Belgium, he said the country is currently in talks with
01:11the Netherlands, Norway, Italy, and other countries to allow its pilots to train in their airspaces,
01:17and that ultimately that's what the NATO alliance is for.
01:20He also assured that military training exercises would not affect commercial flights, and that
01:25there'd be enough room for both in Belgium's skies, despite a 700% increase in civil traffic
01:31over the country since 1980.
01:33The Cube also reached out to Virginie Floin, senior captain at the Belgian Air Force, who
01:38confirmed much of what Franken said.
01:40She said that the situation is the same as it has always been when it comes to Belgium's
01:44military jets, and that, while it's possible to perform some training exercises in the country,
01:50the solution is becoming increasingly international.
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