The Royal Netherlands Air Force is to resume training on the Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter at Tucson, Ariz., after five years training with the Ohio Air National Guard in Springfield.

Starting in 1989, Dutch pilots were the first international students to train with the Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Fighter Wing, but they moved to Ohio in 2005 under a five-year agreement.

The Dutch plan to return to Arizona in January for an initial three years, basing 14 of their aircraft at Tucson International Airport. The 162nd Fighter Wing will provide basic F-16 training as well as flight lead upgrades and instructor pilot certification.

The Dutch contingent will take up training capacity to be released when the United Arab Emirates’ squadron of F-16E/F Desert Falcons wraps up its six-year stay at Tucson and relocates to the Gulf state at the end of December.

The Royal Netherlands Air Force plans to base six instructor pilots and eight single-seat F-16As and six two-seat F-16Bs, upgraded to Mid-Life Update standard, at Tucson to train about 10 pilots a year. F-16 pilots from Pakistan, Poland, Morocco, Norway and Singapore train with the 162nd.

The Moroccan Air Force began instructor-pilot training at Tucson in March, ahead of deliveries of 24 new F-16C/Ds beginning in July 2011. The first Pakistani Air Force pilots graduated in early May, in time for the arrival in June of the first four of 18 new F-16C/Ds on order.

The U.S. Navy, meanwhile, has tapped the Air National Guard for an unused F-16A/B Block 15 simulator that has been updated to represent the unique configuration of aircraft used for “Top Gun” adversary training at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nev.

L-3 Link Simulation & Training, the simulator’s manufacturer, updated the device, changing its three-screen visual to a single-screen Britebox display but reusing Air Force visual databases of Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. The Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center will hold one F-16A/B training class per quarter using the new Fallon-based trainer and says it plans eventually to have a fully functional F-16 simulator. Its F-16A/Bs were built for Pakistan, but never delivered.

In another F-16-related development, two providers of tactical training services have joined forces to pursue F-16 air-combat and maintenance training contracts for the U.S. and foreign operators. Tactical Air Defense Services and Tactical Air Support have submitted their first joint bid to the Defense Department for maintenance training. Carson City, Nev.-based Tactical Air Defense Services provides training in the F-16 as well as operating A-4 Skyhawks and L-39 Albatros jet trainers. Reno, Nev.-based Tactical Air Support operates the L-39 and provides training in the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter.

— Karen Walker