Top Aces buys Belgian Alpha Jets

Belgian Air Force Alpha Jet.

The Belgian Ministry of Defense has sold 25 old Alpha-Jet trainer jets to Top Aces, a Canadian private company specializing in providing red air service to the Australian, Canadian and German armed forces.

Belgium launched the tender for the sale of the aircraft in October 2018. The amount of the deal was not declared.

Belgium has been gradually withdrawing its Alpha Jets for some years now. The aircraft were stored at the Beauvechain air base after serving for a dozen years at the Franco-Belgian pilot training school, called the "Advanced Jet Training School" (AJeTS) in Cazaux, south-west France. This service was offered until October 2018. The latest Alpha Jet returned to Belgium from Cazaux last January.

The Canadian company also purchased all the spare parts, while the Alpha-Jet flight simulator was sold to an Austrian aerospace company, AMST, specialized in the training of fighter pilots and based in Braunau am Inn, Austria.

The Top Aces fleet already includes about twenty ex-Luftwaffe Alpha-Jets as well as half a dozen ex-Israel A-4N Skyhawk aircraft.

Written by Matteo Sanzani
Image: Belgian Ministry of Defense