Page 227 - Airpower in 20th Century - Doctrines and Employment

a Century of military aviation in tHe netHerlands, 1911-2011 227

it was considered as an auxiliary arm on the fringes of the army. This was to change
after the Second World War: from 1940 the new norm was set by more intensive
international cooperation with the allies. The operational theatre of the air force was
no longer restricted to Dutch territory. During the Second World War, the Dutch
were active on various faraway battlefields, and following the war, the air force was
integrated into the NATO defence structure. In 1953, following many foreign air
forces, the Dutch air force was accorded the status of independent Service, on a par
with the army and the navy. From that time onwards, the NATO treaty area was to be
the theatre of operations for the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Training and exercises
mainly took place outside the Netherlands and the deployment of combat aircraft
was directed and coordinated from international headquarters. The guided missile
units of the RNLAF were not stationed in the Netherlands, but formed an integral
part of the guided missile belt in Germany along the Iron Curtain. After the Cold
War, the RNLAF was streamlined into a smaller, flexible and expeditionary air force,
and, with its combat aircraft, guided missiles, transport aircraft and helicopters, the
RNLAF provides a contribution to humanitarian operations and peace operations
across the entire spectrum of force, on the global stage and always in an international
framework.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Muur (The Hague 2003)
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