| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
In the late 1990s the Dutch government under Labour minister-president
Wim Kok decided to pursue a replacement for the main strike fighter of the
Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNAF), the F-16. From very early on, there
was a strong preference for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). This position
has held through the subsequent seven governing coalitions, even though
the political balance on the issue has fluctuated over time. Politicians have
presented the decision to participate in the JSF development program as an
entirely separate issue from that of replacing the F-16. Every government
since 1996 has insisted in public that the one issue does not necessarily lead
to the other, even though this has become an increasingly untenable division
to maintain.
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