Play World of Warships here: wo.ws/3FbEFxM Thank you World of Warships for sponsoring this video. During registration use the code BRAVO to get for free: 500 doubloons, 1.5 million credits, 7 Days of Premium Account time, and a ship! Applicable to new users only. _____ 10:10 - This statement has actually recently been made untrue because they are upgrading DF30s to have mounted Spike-MR ATGMs
The Dutch army is getting more integrated with the German army, whilst the German marines are getting integrated in the Dutch marines, who are already tied in to the British marine units.
@@512TheWolf512 a more Belgian political compromise than natural borders. Navy integrated with the Dutch navy as a compensation( for the Walloons army) integrated with the French. Belgium's politics: a thin line of comprimise. Flemish will never accept all defence integration with France, Walloons not with the Dutch. So compromises. Buying new navy ships with the Dutch, buying army equipment from the French. This is with all military procurement we bought F-35 (under Flemish majority government), not the Rafale, the South angry, now there is a French speaking (Flemish minority) now we are have observer status for the French ‘Systeme de Combat Aérien du Futur (as the French promised deals for companies in Wallonia). Is is more political logic than military one.
Amore Belgian political compromise than natural borders. Navy integrated with the Dutch navy as a compensation( for the Walloons army) integrated with the French. Belgium's politics: a thin line of comprimise. Flemish will never accept all defence integration with France, Walloons not with the Dutch. So compromises. Buying new navy ships with the Dutch, buying army equipment from the French. This is with all military procurement we bought F-35 (under Flemish majority government), not the Rafale, the South angry, now there is a French speaking (Flemish minority) now we are have observer status for the French ‘Systeme de Combat Aérien du Futur (as the French promised deals for companies in Wallonia). Is more political logic than military one.
2:52 : "Weapons not to scale" *Laughs in Canadian with the C2 LMG in Wargame: Airland Battle, where the C2 was probably some 50% larger than in reality, which would have implied an insane recoil for the user*
Would love to see some content on the Singapore Armed Forces. Some real impressive gear coming out of such a small country. Army's pretty massive relative to population size too.
Singapore is a very rich country and has the best navy and airforce in South East Asia. The army is good too. However, Singapore has a terrible birth rate so the number of available conscripts will fall very sharply.
We are a country that has no weight at all in the game, stuck between the two main forces of Western Europe. Spending countless billions in the military is what's ludicrous. Belgian people dont care about having MBTs or F-35's and they have no need for them either. We need proper infrastructures in proper state of maintenance, proper transport, proper administrations, proper educational system, proper medical and care systems able to cope with seasonal diseases instead of saturating on the slightest flu epidemic......
They aren't really planning to become a "smaller french army". Like, at all. They're just willing to be more interoperable with their neighbors. They will be using France's comm systems, as well as some of their vehicles (who are pretty good, and they needed new vehicles anyway. But for example, they will buy Oshkosh's JLTV as a command vehicle). They are building a new international unit, with Luxembourg. Their navy is basically 100% interoperable with the Netherlands' navy (so much so that in case of a war in Europe, both navies will be unified as one), etc. But they will keep their independance, etc. Also, it's not just the infantry who's getting "frenchized", but the whole Land Component. Basically, they want to show how an "European army" could be. Not under a single command, same equipment, etc etc. But with basically a web of interoperability
Indeed, I would say that the Belgian and Dutch army are more related to each other than the Belgian and French. It's also beautiful about Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg how they work together. Honestly, I think that one Benelux-army would be better (cheaper for the Netherlands, but the most important condition is that Belgium invests more). It could become an army just behind the most important armies.
@@denjo3131 Belgian military should integrate with other countries' militaries on their own terms, based on whatever is strategically the most sensible thing to do. The end goal is having a stronger NATO, not a stronger Benelux. A Benelux army would just be a Dutch army, there's no reason to create that for its own sake. I can already sense the scandals that would arise, Dutch generals subconsciously sending Belgian companies on statistically more dangerous missions than Dutch ones, etc. Dutch generals favoring Dutch defense manufacturers. Miscommunication due to language and dialect differences. A culture of rivalry between different nationalities. I can think of plenty of scenarios. It also doesn't make sense because the Belgian army should be operated based on Belgian votes, not Dutch or Luxembourgian votes. Like, would Belgian political parties have to argue about defense spending with Dutch political parties? Makes no sense. Besides, Belgium already works closely with the Netherlands and Luxembourg, so in that sense a Benelux army already exists. And intuitively, it seems having diversity is good, different institutions can come up with unique ideas based on their institution's unique culture. This is why markets are more efficient than command economies or monopolies. I would rather fight 2 big armies than 1 big army and 3 smaller armies closely cooperating with each other and the big army.
@@ReddoFreddo cooperation with the dutch would have been much better for the simple fact that we might have acquired boxer and cv90 instead of a glorified truck designed for french colonial operations in the sahel.
@@guillauleleirman8946 If you have a problem with the equipment choices perhaps you should join the military and climb the ranks, someone else who did do that clearly disagrees with you
@@ReddoFreddo This is a decision made by a politician from the same party that acquired the non-NATO standard DF-90's. Anyone who does not have their heads in their asses realizes that the equipment we are acquiring is designed for lower intensity conflicts. Meanwhile, we are expecting our service members to perform our duties within the alliance in a case of war. Duties (god forbid they have to execute those duties) which most other members of the alliance would conduct with forces with heavier equipment that would be able to take more hits in a high intensity conflict. Our army already has a special operations regiment, which serve the role of light infantry and such. Our main warfighting force should be able to conduct warfare at a higher intensity level.
Close integration with French forces has always been their best bet, Belgium's borders are basically France natural borders, beyond that the majority of problems the Belgian armed forces have faced is their politics.
I wouldn't say it was cooperative, they probably don't know I exist lol. I used their recent article as a source/jumping off point to talk more about the DF90's flaws than I initially planned, but my Patrons got the script for this video back in March
@@BattleOrderI am sure they know of your existence battle order, I thought with the link in the description and shared topic it was a collaborative effort with your video being a bit delayed. Maybe you could get in contact see if you guys could get something in the works 😅.
@@BattleOrder yup I believe oryx is done if not almost done a a project. A few articles of visual loss data will be maintained. Its sad to see such a fine piece of journalism cease to operate due to burnout and pressure.
Very cool vid. Topic suggestion: Taiwanese armed force with similar analysis like this video since they also is facing some armor vehicle development issue. Maybe you can also explain an example of Taiwanese defense toward the scenario you've made before in Chinese amphibious force video.
with the war Ukraine, infantry sections are also training to deploy with an RGW MATADOR + extra shot in addition to the two LAWs (though in practice replacing them because no one wants to carry that much shit). This is what the motorized brigade's command wants in any case, but the Belgian army doesn't have enough in stock currently to actually equip infantry sections in such a way.
As a long time (ie old) Belgian Reserve Officer I can only shake my head wearily and think how small and under equipped our army has become. 6 (Inf/Recce) battalions, most under strength and then some light infantry (ParaCdo) is all a country of 10M+ inhabitants can field. No MBT's, no decent artillery. Usually very well trained and motivated military deserve better. If you ask me we should be able two field at least two complete divisions (XX) / with 6 Brigades (X) in peace time and a Corps (XXX) with all support and staff when things heat up without going to full mobilisation.
Battle Order, Idk about your plans on videos of older unit concept, but there is some digital material on Danish army structure during 1930s and up to 1940, 9 of April, that you may find useful for a video at some point
As a former FAO with 6th Artillery, Soest 1990, 8 manouvres in 13 months, Elsenborn, Vogelsang, Sennelager and Bergen Hoehne, attached to the 4th Lancers, I cry when I see the remnants of the army equipped with souped up green painted SUVs. Who would need artillery nowadays in 2023 in this fast mobile warfare environment? Ejeets.
@@romk.m.1081 my comment was a sarcastic comment on the fools that sold all our hardware. FYI, the howitzers I worked with in 1990 are now in Ukraine. Guess some good came out of the idiocy.
Cooperation with foreign militaries is nothing new. Belgium already has a long term partnership with the French to facilitate the basic pilot training programme and we do have a joint command for the navy with the dutch aswell as joint procurement for frigates and minesweepers/hunters. The major problem this army has faced and continues to face is the complete lack of long term financial decisions from the government which means that every couple of years, the military has to completely change it's investment plans and they don't seem to manage to get a coherent strategy because of it. Another major issue has been recruitment, the belgian army is filled with old man and replacing those has proven to be difficult since the younger generation has no intrest in joining the military due to the "reputation" of the army and the low, or presumption of, salary.
I'm half Dutch and it's sad the Dutch army in integrating with the german army. And the Belgium army is integrating with the French army. Even tho they should be cooperating with each other.
I believe they're still cooperating with their navies, only the land components are working with France and Germany. As for the air forces I'm not sure
The FN pistol for each is excess, yes. But: pistol is very handy for foreign bases if there is a requirement to (nearly) always be armed. Far, far easier to carry a pistol than a SCAR. (and it might be a tiny wee bit corruption helping FN) Also: calling it 'Frenchification' or 'integration with France' is sensitive. France suicided the Rafale offer by offering integration. So: F35's from big daddy USA. Ground vehicles from France. Navy with Netherlands. I wish we'd quit the German-French FCAS, even as observer status and joined the Tempest :p Edit, some addendums: The 'weapon locker' concept: I reckon the mortar & anti-tank weapons are the most useful. The .50 cal option is basically legacy, and only for fixed emplacements. The 90mm cannon is known to be a case of corruption. The Wallonian (at the time) defence minister gave the contract to Cockerill, a... Wallonian-French company. Afaik, we are not buying the ATGM's for the Jaguars ( 😞). 'fitted for but not with' penny-pinching. No tanks: strategically, at the Leopard 1 replacement time, the decision was made to have no main tracked vehicles. Hence, no M113 Gavins, no other tracked AFV/IFV, no tanks,... no tracked howitzers. Wheels or bust. (strategic mobility over tactical mobility. Also: cheaper; penny pinching, and the reality that heavy vehicles in a true war won't have bridges to use over Belgium's rivers) In that context, and with the Dutch going a different route, the French route is unfortunately probably the best we can do (no political will to look at South-Korean vehicles e.g.). Not having tanks is thus a strategical decision, even without extra budget: does Belgium really need 2 large (for us) frigates and the anti-mining vessels for it's short coast, knowing the European & Nato context (tons of frigates around in EU waters)? That can buy quite a few tanks right there. F35: also a rather expensive option. (imo, a correct one for being a stealth fighter vs non-stealth competition, and despite being 'USA' one that is used by more European international partners than any of the Gryphen, Rafale or Eurofighter...) Restarting proper artillery is long overdue however. I consider 9+19 to still be a low amount, considering Ukraine experience. Some Rocket artillery would not be amiss, nor more modern anti-air. (possibly we're slowly moving towards the Aster 30)
I'm alway surprised by the logic of number of naval vessels wrt the length of the coastline . What's easily forgotten is the importance of the (now integrated) Antwerp- Port of Bruges harbour and it's location . It's strategically of the highest importance . Also, 71% of the earth surface is water and Belgium has the 4th largest merchant fleet of the world . Might be interesting to protect . And as anti- drugs operations, illegal trafficking get more important ... Belgium is very vulnerable on that point too . Finally, you're dead wrong about the number of frigates & escorts . The UK invested in large assets (aircraft carriers) but no longer has the means or personnel to have enough escort vessels . The Dutch don't have enough vessels to have a permanent patrol ship in the Caribbean . NATO has way not enough frigates .
Originaly, we were divided by provinces (our historical subdivisions), but since the dumb regionalization, everything has to be done around language. Many Belgians want to get rid of that system and go back to more unity.
Is it any different in any other bilingual country ? Finland has some swedish speaking units. In Canada and Switzerland it is the same. Operational units are mostly organised along language lines.
@@lws7394 I think it also has to do with dividing the power equally between Flanders and Wallonia to prevent tension and potential separatism. Whereas Swedish speaking units in the Finnish Army and French speaking units in the Canadian Army are clear minorities. I believe the U.S. military does a similar thing with ensuring their officers are split roughly 50/50 between their political parties.
@@fridrekr7510 Out of 4 so called 'Canadian Divisions' one (the 2nd) is francophone. That suggest 25% to be french speaking. I read somewhere that even 1/3 of the Regular Army units would be french. ( traditionally most units would be based in the east , i guess) . In Finland the Nyland Brigade (marines corps) is fully swedish speaking , within the 'finnish' command structure.
Other than terrorism, they don’t face a credible threat to their homeland. They couldn’t stop a bizarre world enemy Germany or France if they wanted too and any conflict with Russia will with them sending troops to NATO’s Eastern flank.
Most of the Belgians whom experienced the Blitz are pushing daisies . About 15% of the Belgians now however, have parents that experienced desert warfare between Rommel and Montgomery ... (wink, wink)
The half of Belgium his French spoken ,and under French influence.The other side his Dutch spoken and more Dutch and Englisch influence .The country dont work good with this problem . This gouvernement ficht always in politic way between the Flemisch side and the French side . 😮
For decades our Belgian army had to cut back on expenses, not to mention some questionable (or even corrupt) political decisions. I can't really blame the military for the choices they had / have to make with the little money they have, but oh boy, is there work to do!
I'm a member of the Belgian Air Force, I applaud the accuracy and research you've done for this video. Everything was spot on and well researched. The only thing that might be outdated was the Jigsaw camo on the images of the soldiers. The vast majority of the Belgian military switched over to multicam since this year.
@@quintus_rex7381 just imagine, one thing I always tell my colleague is that a single Battalion of Leopards or Abrams or K2's would do better for public image and recruiting than all those expensive TV ads they make every year
@@lecroco-kp4oc ah yes, those Ads with not-issued-to-everyone NVG in a bright sunny day 🥸 At least we still have some leopard as decoy in our barracks and camps
Salut d'un français compliment pour votre engagement !! Pour les chars on va attendre que KMW et Rheinmetall s'entendent et on vous fera un beau MBT surtout avec KMW ( pas du tout besoin de Rheinmetall y a Nexter) vive nos AMIS belges !!!
The 90mm gun was only decided because the defense minister (André Flahaut) at the time gave the contract to a friend with a factory. The plan was for 105mm to actually replace the Leopards. This corruption only came to light when the ministers changed and the order was immediately stopped iirc. There literally was no strategic or tactical reason for switching to 90mm.
That would have been a question from me. Because 105mm is an absolute Nato standart. Is there an other Nato nation which use 90mm shells actually? If not it can be very expensive in the future especially if there are not many manufacturer(and i think so). Is it the same ammo calliber like in the old M48 Patton?
@@85daniel 90mm was supposed to be sold to South-East Asia countries because it was made for trials for their abundant M41 chassis they got. Cockerill lost the trials but were overconfident and already built dozens of these guns !! And to avoid bankruptcy, MoD bought these guns platforms
Me on twitter "Oh nice Battleorder is going to do a video about the Belgian army, let's hope he doesn't bring out our terrible procurement like oryx always does." Sees titles: Dies inside
Informative video and a "delightful" reminder that weird and corrupt military procurement decisions aren't restricted to big spenders like the US and Russia or developing nations.
Ты это не говори обычным жителям украины они "уверовали" в что в странах ЕС нет коррупции и все живут богато . эти дурочки просто не понимают как работает коррупция в разных странах в США это называется лоббирование в РФ это может принимать разные формы . и что самое удивительное на низовых уровнях это может быть благом . например для ускорение выполнения каких либо бюрократических условий. Все зависит как на это смотреть . и какой ущерб это приносит.
@@Фибоначчи-я9с maybe learn to translate your comments if you want to engage in discussion in a comment section that's 99.999% english. You cant expect every possible reader to use a translator themselves. Do your homework.
It's not necessarily "corruption" (in the shape of: getting enveloppes with money) Very often it has to do with: if company X made a better jeep than company Y, but the government of the latter company promises twice as much investments of all sorts in Belgium, politicians tend to deny the best option for the Armed Forces, jeep X and will go for the not so good or even bad Y. "Economic compensations" often have priority over efficiency. In the USA, it is the same: it is not just for fun that some companies open facilities in different states, even if it would make more sense to concentrate everything on one site: having sites in different states means that you have different senators which have good reasons to support that company.
I've served within the Belgian Army during 8 years(from 1982-end of 89)in which I personally witnest several weaknesses in several weapon-systems in the artillery-purchases of that day(M109-M110) It never cease to amaze me how some military purchases/decisions are made within the Belgian army. You've obviously done your home-work on this and have my respect for it...
we are going to buy more Caesar today we just need more capable things for antitank task like tanks or more antitank system like the mmp french missile or the javelin
Hey, I served also during 24 years in the belgian army. Two of these were in infantry as a grenadier. I just want to bring a little correction to your remak concerning the "decisions made within the belgian army". This is not completely exact. The army test more kinds of material and summit it to the politics with their prefernces. But at the end, it's the politic who decide. See comment from menmenm!
I saw you also talked about the 43 Gemechaniseerde brigade (Dutch Mechanized brigade), can you do that one next, that would be really interesting to see as I heard they where going to upgrade their CV90's with a MLU.
It's pretty much our best option as a small country to have close cooperation with the French army like the Dutch to with the German army. Makes it more efficient in if needed a real situation.
Yes, so are the european and Nato initiatives, but they cannot serve as an excuse to fragment and downgrade your army by leaning on your partners to do the job.
I suspect that the Belgian military looks to France instead the Netherlands because the French speaking don't understand or speak a word of Dutch/Flemish.
@@christianwouters6764they have to speak English within the army anyway. And the dutch speak an almost perfect English. So nope. The reason would rather be that France has a bigger and better army, as well as many years of experience they're also in the top 3 most powerful European armies. The other options being the UK (which are quite far and yet, some Belgian special forces trains with them) and Germany (now we could suggest language barriers, only barely)
@@stevenbastin8741 Belgium isn't some satellite state to France, although France often behaves that way. Belgium finally condemned the war in Mali. A Belgian died in Mali, thanks to a fuckup of the French foreign legion. There never was a problem saying no to the war in Iraq though. So in some way, Belgium does seem to be in it deep with France. Belgium had the first licensed snipers on the European mainland since 1993, half year training in England. Then there's the training ground in Otterburn, Scottland for the para's, who are entirely modeled after British example. Also historically, it was the UK that guaranteed Belgium's neutrality, so it makes a lot more sense to seek further integration with them. The main and final objective should of course be a European army... In which neither France, the UK or Germany has the biggest say because that rivalry is always contra productive and still very vivid till this day, especially in the army. Maybe just linguistical for the English, for obvious reasons.
Honestly, as a smaller military it might be better for you guys to explore the combat team option. Something at the battalion level that's akin to a regimental combat team would do wonders, as each unit would be able to self-support and thus be more tactically effective. I would advise against following the Russian example for obvious reasons, but the Brits and the US have decent examples.
I'm Belgian and it hurts me to see our army in such a shamefull state. Time to invest more in a true army that is not only meant to support our bigger allies, but can also defend itself and be independant if need be
In the era of UE and NATO, and other superpowers like China and its 1.4B inhabitants, a super small country like Belgium cannot be expected to defend itself independantly against any threat. And the country is being bled dry by ultraliberals and capitalists anyway. We dont have resources for the army and more pressing issues than being invaded from France or Germany, or The Netherlands! Time to invest more in our infrastructures, hospitals, doctors and nurses. In schools, public services, public transport. Costa Rica has lived its life without the slightest army since 1948 and has been largely better for it.
Interesting mix of the M72 and the MATADOR at the Platoon level, that is a lack of medium/heavy AT capability that other comparable forces get with NLAW/Carl Gustav. Seems to be a deliberate choice with the direct fire platoon having the AT capability, I wonder how closely integrated they are in action.
Seems like you forgot to mention the integration of Spike MR into the 30mm RWS of the Piranha DF30. A few years ago some (all?) were modernized with a turret capable of firing Spike MR, so there is a mounted AT capability in the battalions.
i can confirm most of them have the "upgrade" if we can call it an upgrade since shooting a missile badly fucks-up the vehicule but there is a solution on it's way@@F2000-q2z
@@flybeep1661 at least we still have people that want to protect us and don't forget that the military is not the only ones that will fight for us, we still have special forces, secret services etc.. Ofc hopefully there won't be wars but if it happens we still have people to fight for us
In ln opinion and based on research. Belgium can easily rebuild it's army by making defence to 2.1´% of it's GDP. I think it's also necessary to buy advanced weaponry, tanks and more drones.
Tanks ? For what ? They're nice on posters and good for recruitment, but when you see what happens to them in Ukraine... Bradleys seem to make more sense
Tanks? Why? You do realize we'd have to move them and the supply chain more than 1000 km to be of any use. Maybe we should focus on equipment that we can deploy more quickly.
Honestly does anyone know Belgium shouldn’t be a country and should be split between Netherland and France after napoleonic wars England didn’t want a bigger Holland become so powerful then didn’t let the Flanders join their Dutch cousins and attached the Wallonia and made the Belgium until now there isn’t such sense of unity as Belgian nation
The cannon on the Jaguar is a technical marvel. At 40mm, it has the same ballistic power as a 105mm cannon. It has canistered ammunition, so you have a much higher ammo capacity. And it has several different types of ammo to boot
It's a 40 mm and the stuff you typed is what they tried to tell everyone and so far it has been a spectacular failure. The actual performance has been abysmal...
@@majormoolah5056 The telescoped ammunition does not reach anywhere near it's desired lethal effect due to the combustion not working properly and just basically a lot of wishful thinking and clever marketing without taking into account the reality of physics. The penetration values at range are laughable compared to 105 and so is the HE burst effect (inate due to its size). They said the RoF would compensate (many medium booms instead of one BIG BOOM ...). They tried to sell it as valid replacement for a medium calibre gun but should just accept it for what it is, a decent (not great) autocannon. They could (should) have mounted an existing 30 mm for virtually the same effect and a fraction of the cost.
Belgium had disinvestment in its army since the early 90s as the political decision was that war isn't the army's business anymore and there came a focus on smaller roles as peacekeeping, demining, some limited special forces action. Yes, that may seem absurd, but Belgian politics repeatedly said the army doesn't need fighting capability. As a result of this all tanks and anti tank capability were scraped, anti air was abolished, artillery was out and the defence minister was allowed to order his Piranha vehicles with a substandard not NATO compatible gun that would benefit a factory where his constituents worked. The moment that minister was gone, the army tried to get out of it, but it was too late. Now the Piranhas have to be replaced as they suffer from many problems. The other 'special' vehicle from that era, the Iveco LMV also have to be replaced as they are falling apart after just a decade of service. Copying France is probably the best way to quickly fix things back into operational as the current army isn't even capable of going to a standard African peacekeeping mission anymore. All have clearly seen drones make air defence a basic survival requirement as anyone nowadays can do improv air bombardment with anti armour shells. Getting tanks would be a nice bonus, but given how underequiped the Belgian army is now, getting things up to French standards is the main priority now. Because the moment the Ukraine war isn't in the news, Belgian politics will try to find a way to disinvest in the army again.
ouch, did having their country being used as a flanking manuever during both world wars really want them to castrate themselves that badly in the way of the military?
I don't think getting MBTs is a priority or even the right move for Belgium. From an European perspective, it's more efficient for the smaller countries to invest in what the bigger countries lack, or to conform to their organization to completement them better. This is the current move. Belgium and the Netherlands focusing on air power and lighter, more strategically mobile units makes more sense than to for heavy, less flexible armored units like Germany or Poland. This is a step in the right direction, as you said, but I also fear the Wallon/Flemish divide will once again interfere with a cohesive Belgian policy.
@@deadahead6775 I can agree with this sentiment, but then we'd actually have to invest more in our air power as well. Would need to order about a dozen more F-35 than we ordered currently, finally make the decision to arm our Reaper drones and procure some additional cheaper light strike drones in the class of the TB2 imo.
Tanks at this point for a military as small as Belgiums will be a nice bonus, but not a priority, since if they ever went out to fight, they would likely be integrated with allied armour. That being said, the Jaguar is an astoundingly good vehicle, and will serve the Belgian Troops well as a armoured recon and direct fire support vehicle.
@@deadahead6775 I certainly agree with you. Overall Belgium getting their own tanks would be prohibitively expensive and would degrade their other capabilities. However, one potential option could be for Belgium to rent tanks from France similarly to what the Dutch are doing with German Leopards. It could be a more affordable way for Belgium to retain a unit within their own army trained in armored warfare, comfortable with working closely with France, and which could potentially be expanded more quickly in a time of severe crisis. Although, unlike the Dutch, Belgium has not had MBTs in decades so whatever domestic knowledge base they had it long gone.
I know you generally just do whatever you like and not what others tell you to, but Dutch Army integration into German Bundeswehr would be a really cool and niche subject as well.
I've never really looked into Belgium's Army composition or status, even for it being my own country. But this random video popped up, got my attention, and I'm glad I watched it. Thank you
Very interesting as an Fr I didn't realised we are so close from French's language belgium forces. Hystorically always did what they could. Not only for business didn't neither new they already got Jaguars, and Griffon ( saw Griffon on truck, it looks small but in real it is "BIG" ) "recon" in FR style contains agressive posture not at all only "detect" ❓️ 200 rounds/minute from CTC 40mm of little jaguar.. donno if an MBT can stay 100% efficient ?
Get a high-tech modern army with a small amount of money. The French army is a good example. The modernization and upgrading of the Chinese Army draws in-depth reference from the French Army and the Canadian Army. For example: Changhe Z-10 helicopter, ZBL-08 Infantry Fighting Vehicle, PCL-181 howitzer.
The Belgian army doesn't exist to wage war, or even to fight. We only use it to parade in front of the Royal Palace on National Day. It also parades in the streets to reassure the population when there are terrorist attacks (A Belgian).
If you are flabbergasted at these decisions as an outsider, you need to realize that it is overly evident to any resident who tries to keep up, that Belgium is one of the most high-level corrupt Western countries you can imagine. It rains money- and funds-related scandals here weekly at the highest levels, involving public transport, vaccines, army acquisition, parliamentary pensions and spending, healthcare, etc. on a weekly basis involving the most prominent politicians. If it's significant enough, it may make headlines for a day or two (most of the time, it won't though). And after a few days or a week at most, these stories just disappear from the heavily government-subsidized press never to be heard from again, and life continues. The only country in my experience that comes remotely close is Great-Britain.
The ineffectiveness of the Belgian army has been an area of shame for ages. The APC story goes much deeper and gets very political, but in essence it mostly demonstrates the legacy systemic corruption, mostly on the French speaking side of the army. Strategic decisions are altered for political reasons. For example (details are inaccurate but demonstrate the principle that was applied), when they negotiated the previous purchase of APCs, the French speaking command had chosen a vehicle which cannon didn't even have NATO ammunition. Instead it would be using a proprietary FN munition that required a logistical nightmare supply chain if a Belgian unit was deployed in a joint mission with NATO. (like the one in Yugoslavia back then) So the Flemish common sense was not okay signing off on such a purchase. They demanded that at least the gun would be changed to a NATO standard munition. In order to be willing to agree to this, the Walloon guys demanded that certain contracts would be awarded to Walloon contractors only (FN is not the only military manufacturer in Belgium) even though a technically better offer from abroad was on the table. And that's how it goes with every politically influenced decision. Some guys take a bribe or have conflicts of interest. They make a ridiculous proposal to benefit their benefactors. The shortcomings are pointed out. Half of them get fixed as a compromise, and the other half goes to the corrupt worst bid. It makes no sense to anyone who doesn't live here, because our political system only makes sense on matters of opinion. Strategic value is a matter of science, so any military decision should not be made with our political methods. If you want to make a video on how corruption has undermined the operability and response capability of the Belgian Army, look into the Agusta-Dassault scandal where big bribes were given to buy an inferior helicopter that didn't even meet the requirements of the tender.
Belgium's financial situation doesn't allow the country to deliver the 2 % of the GDP Nato agreements require. Everyone and everything needs money in Belgium; the Justice system wants more prisons and more money for the State Security, the police want an increase of their wages, since they never really were adapted to the increasing cost of living, the educational system begs for more funds, so do hospitals and nurses. So, Belgium HOPES to reach 1,59 % of the GDP in .... 2030. Flying with and the maintenance of the F 35's will eat a very large part of the Defense budget. Until now, Belgium got away with the insufficient budget, because it participated in several international conflicts, think Kosovo, Afghanistan etc. The 35's however are not the type of planes you'd use in the Balkan, in far away Asian or African countries. They're too expensive and precious. I'm not even sure the F 35 will be efficient in Belgium: the B 2 bombers are said to be not ideal in rain, as the radar absorbant coating might get damaged. The Dutch also damaged the coating of their first F 35 during the welcome show, when a firetruck sprayed foam on the plane. Let's hope the F 35's coating is better protected against rain, because it can be damned wet here.
As a french i love the belgian army, some how i feel they're like our little brothers, and the fact that they will adopt our equipment it's pretty cool. The only shit thing is the fact their army is divided by languages and regionalism, i think it's and it will be a huge obstacle for making a better Belgium army
As a reservist in the Belgian motorized brigade, which consists of both french speaking, dutch spreaking and bilingual units, I've never experienced language as a barrier for co-operation. Belgians are generally capable of speaking the second language to some degree at least. Furthermore, when we train with our Wallonian sister unit, we always give briefings and communicate in English, as would be the case in international operations with other NATO countries.
bof, pas vraiment, il faut être bilingue (soit parler la 2e langue nationale soit anglais) pour être pris dans la défense il me semble, c'est le cas pour la plupart des belges en général, ona des cours de langues des la primaire...
@@ltournay only officers need to be bilingual. The general consensus is, if there's ONE French speaking dude in the group ...we all speak French :-) The op does have a good point though, deployment of a flemish unit in a French Bn in a hot conflict will never, ever happen, there is just too much risk of miscommunication
As a Belgian reserve officer I'm offended by your language statement. The Dutch speaking majority in Belgium still has a trauma from French speaking overlordship which lasts until today. The Flemish speak French much more readily than our French speaking counterparts. Close cooperation with France will make matters "worst" in our armed forces.
... the only reason we little belgians seem to like the french is because we hate the dutch more ... *just kidding, we have an equal distaste for both their imperialistic mindsets. In practice the flemish-walloon opposition is political theatre to keep the dutch and the french from invading our borders. ;-) *not really meaning that, please don't nuke Waterloo, we're still very scared of the French Terrorrists we swear. Joking aside, the language is only a barrier for promotion opportunities. Working together with someone from a different language region is not much harder than working together with someone from another city, they are equally unintelligable due to diversity in dialects so we're used to it. Working with the french is harder because they say weird shit like 60 12 instead of 72. Or they talk for 15 minutes in vague generalities and assume everyone agrees with the decision they made in their head, and then the Walloon and the Flemming at the table will look at eachother like "wtf, why did he leave after a useless 15 minute string of 'formules de politesse'?"
True, Belgium should not exist as a country. Their government is a real circus with a lot of corruption, btw, there aren't many Belgians anymore except those who go working and pay all taxes to keep the circus going on and on 😂
Belgian army is weak: for 2023, Belgium is ranked 68 of 145 out of the countries considered for the annual Globalfirepower review. In Europe Belgium is ranked 17 of 25 countries included in the 2023 European Union Military Strength annual defense review. (Top5: France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Germany) But Belgians are good at parading just watch 'Belgian Defense Cadets'.
@@tomfiremissionblog5283 Denmark's population (5.8 million) is half of Belgium's (11.7 million), but Denmark is ranked 50 of 145. Czech Republic's population (10.8 million) is slightly less than Belgium's, but Czechia is ranked 48 of 145. Portugal's population (10.3 million) is less than Belgium's, but Portugal is ranked 41 of 145. So yes, when compared with similar European countries Belgian army is weak.
Very cool topic I wonder if you can do one on the Belarusian military because Belgian troops are in Eastern Europe ready to face Russian and Belarusian soldiers
I wonder whos the man being used as a cutout of a soldier in the video And then having him multiplied as a whole pirahna crews and section in the video. And I wonder if this man watches this video and sees himself being cloned while wearing that face buff mask and posed like that
Unfortunately, the Belgian army is rarely supported by politicians and the budget of the Ministry of Defense has been affected for a long time. The state of our army is because our politicians believed in a world of care bears and moved towards UN-style peacekeeping missions. Obviously moving a leopard battalion into these environments was difficult. Moreover, undoubtedly the Defense budget should be reduced as much as possible, as was the civil protection organization, or like the deficiency of the fire services of which all firefighters complain. After stripping our units of their weapons (Leopard for the cavalry, AIFV for the infantry, M109 for the artillery, the Guepard etc.) we realize that the Russian threat is re-emerging for Europe but the investments there dedicate would be such that our politicians are trying by all means to find partnerships to re-equip the units again at lower cost. It is only for the planes that we will spend a fortune on the F35 when there will only ever be 4 in flight. We are a small country and we should have the ambitions of a small country. Here our politicians are trying to play in the big leagues while we do not have the financial means. Personally I think that we should confine the Navy to its mission of mine clearance from the Channel and access to the port of Antwerpen as in the past. The land force can remain in its current configuration but must be rearmed as it was in the 1990s. We must think about the air force because its expenses are abysmal due not only to the price of aircraft but also to their maintenance. Should we buy so many? already with the F16 some of them were simply stored for a long time.
The Belgian armybus very interesting since it's a small nation with no threats of invasions. But at the same time it's part of NATO and headquarters NATO in its capital, in a way to satisfy its allies it has build up this very mobile effective supporting military. Really cool to see... If only we could see it tested 😂
I'm from Belgium, Flanders and i want to join the army next year, gives me great joy and a bit of pride we're finnally starting to improve but mainly fix our army
@@da41because HE cares for his family and friends. You don't join in hoping to save politics but hoping to protect your loved ones. You are free to run like a coward and leave your country. No one would mind
@@stevenbastin8741you take care of your family by providing them protection resources and guidance. army doesn’t pay, you’re constantly away from your family and you’re only dying for some old bald men that went on a powertrip. By joining the army you only feed the war machine and contribute to destruction. While you are dying in a trench like a real hero i’ll make sure my family is safe. Also you’re not helping your family by being dead.
Hasn't Ukraine proven tanks are obsolete? That Bradley taking out that T90 was an eyeopener and I bet many generals took note. The emergence of drone brigades will be interesting.
Belgium should have kept the old tanks but should have upgraded them with the new turrets and the new ascalon gun+ a new armor package at the end of the day they proved the concept and if those tanks can perform their roles as armored support for mech infantry as well as line of sight artillery it would be fine. that being said Belgium has allready sold, bought back and then given away it's tanks in a series of events that just stink of establishment party corruption to me. So it may be best to immediatly buy new tanks and equip them with the ascalon guns given that old tanks do tend to have a lot of maintenance woes. That being said they also lost most of their teething issues so i'l leave this one to the mechanics (the engineers should be listened to but they are actually a bit blind to anything beyond their area of expertise and often they neglect to considder nuances)
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10:10 - This statement has actually recently been made untrue because they are upgrading DF30s to have mounted Spike-MR ATGMs
Your Russian battle maps video is filled with Russoids
@@DogeickBateman What do you want Battle Order to do?
Personally delete all comments from Russia?
@@AUsernameWeShallMarchToKiev Yes :trollface:
It's the world's best cure for thrush.
the mk3 are mostly used by the 4th (support) section. all the other sections use the mk2 as their LMG.
Its funny in a way that the Belgians are getting more integrated with the French while the Dutch are getting more integrated with the Germans.
something something natural borders
The dutch have been fully integrated into the german army earlier this year
The Dutch army is getting more integrated with the German army, whilst the German marines are getting integrated in the Dutch marines, who are already tied in to the British marine units.
@@512TheWolf512 a more Belgian political compromise than natural borders. Navy integrated with the Dutch navy as a compensation( for the Walloons army) integrated with the French. Belgium's politics: a thin line of comprimise. Flemish will never accept all defence integration with France, Walloons not with the Dutch. So compromises. Buying new navy ships with the Dutch, buying army equipment from the French. This is with all military procurement we bought F-35 (under Flemish majority government), not the Rafale, the South angry, now there is a French speaking (Flemish minority) now we are have observer status for the French ‘Systeme de Combat Aérien du Futur (as the French promised deals for companies in Wallonia). Is is more political logic than military one.
Amore Belgian political compromise than natural borders. Navy integrated with the Dutch navy as a compensation( for the Walloons army) integrated with the French. Belgium's politics: a thin line of comprimise. Flemish will never accept all defence integration with France, Walloons not with the Dutch. So compromises. Buying new navy ships with the Dutch, buying army equipment from the French. This is with all military procurement we bought F-35 (under Flemish majority government), not the Rafale, the South angry, now there is a French speaking (Flemish minority) now we are have observer status for the French ‘Systeme de Combat Aérien du Futur (as the French promised deals for companies in Wallonia). Is more political logic than military one.
2:52 : "Weapons not to scale"
*Laughs in Canadian with the C2 LMG in Wargame: Airland Battle, where the C2 was probably some 50% larger than in reality, which would have implied an insane recoil for the user*
Would love to see some content on the Singapore Armed Forces. Some real impressive gear coming out of such a small country. Army's pretty massive relative to population size too.
I agree. The SAF packs heavy despite its lack of combat experience compared to its regional peers.
Singapore is a very rich country and has the best navy and airforce in South East Asia. The army is good too. However, Singapore has a terrible birth rate so the number of available conscripts will fall very sharply.
The state of their army is really sad. I read Oryx's blogpost about the topic a week or so ago and it's good that more people talk about it openly.
Yeah I read it too! It’s abhorrent.
Yeah it's really scary and sad for Belgium, no MBTs, poor anti tank capabilities, no anti air system and a very barebone artillery corp
Don't worry all the "scientist" that arrive from africa will design their AA systems 🤡
We are a country that has no weight at all in the game, stuck between the two main forces of Western Europe. Spending countless billions in the military is what's ludicrous. Belgian people dont care about having MBTs or F-35's and they have no need for them either.
We need proper infrastructures in proper state of maintenance, proper transport, proper administrations, proper educational system, proper medical and care systems able to cope with seasonal diseases instead of saturating on the slightest flu epidemic......
Always the silly either/or story. All that doesn't matter if the baseline is being gnawed at from the exterior.
They aren't really planning to become a "smaller french army". Like, at all. They're just willing to be more interoperable with their neighbors. They will be using France's comm systems, as well as some of their vehicles (who are pretty good, and they needed new vehicles anyway. But for example, they will buy Oshkosh's JLTV as a command vehicle). They are building a new international unit, with Luxembourg. Their navy is basically 100% interoperable with the Netherlands' navy (so much so that in case of a war in Europe, both navies will be unified as one), etc. But they will keep their independance, etc. Also, it's not just the infantry who's getting "frenchized", but the whole Land Component.
Basically, they want to show how an "European army" could be. Not under a single command, same equipment, etc etc. But with basically a web of interoperability
Indeed, I would say that the Belgian and Dutch army are more related to each other than the Belgian and French. It's also beautiful about Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg how they work together. Honestly, I think that one Benelux-army would be better (cheaper for the Netherlands, but the most important condition is that Belgium invests more). It could become an army just behind the most important armies.
@@denjo3131 Belgian military should integrate with other countries' militaries on their own terms, based on whatever is strategically the most sensible thing to do. The end goal is having a stronger NATO, not a stronger Benelux.
A Benelux army would just be a Dutch army, there's no reason to create that for its own sake. I can already sense the scandals that would arise, Dutch generals subconsciously sending Belgian companies on statistically more dangerous missions than Dutch ones, etc. Dutch generals favoring Dutch defense manufacturers. Miscommunication due to language and dialect differences. A culture of rivalry between different nationalities. I can think of plenty of scenarios.
It also doesn't make sense because the Belgian army should be operated based on Belgian votes, not Dutch or Luxembourgian votes. Like, would Belgian political parties have to argue about defense spending with Dutch political parties? Makes no sense.
Besides, Belgium already works closely with the Netherlands and Luxembourg, so in that sense a Benelux army already exists. And intuitively, it seems having diversity is good, different institutions can come up with unique ideas based on their institution's unique culture. This is why markets are more efficient than command economies or monopolies. I would rather fight 2 big armies than 1 big army and 3 smaller armies closely cooperating with each other and the big army.
@@ReddoFreddo cooperation with the dutch would have been much better for the simple fact that we might have acquired boxer and cv90 instead of a glorified truck designed for french colonial operations in the sahel.
@@guillauleleirman8946 If you have a problem with the equipment choices perhaps you should join the military and climb the ranks, someone else who did do that clearly disagrees with you
@@ReddoFreddo This is a decision made by a politician from the same party that acquired the non-NATO standard DF-90's. Anyone who does not have their heads in their asses realizes that the equipment we are acquiring is designed for lower intensity conflicts. Meanwhile, we are expecting our service members to perform our duties within the alliance in a case of war. Duties (god forbid they have to execute those duties) which most other members of the alliance would conduct with forces with heavier equipment that would be able to take more hits in a high intensity conflict. Our army already has a special operations regiment, which serve the role of light infantry and such. Our main warfighting force should be able to conduct warfare at a higher intensity level.
Would love to see some content on the Australian Defence Force. Keep up the good work!
Maybe, as a small country, they should focus on hypermodernizing a large drone fleet,
A population of more than 11,5 million people, just lack of political will. We refuse to arm our new combat drones.
Close integration with French forces has always been their best bet, Belgium's borders are basically France natural borders, beyond that the majority of problems the Belgian armed forces have faced is their politics.
We need the money for our health care and pension funds. No room for army stuff.
don't expect belgian political leaders to be clever and smart...
gotta love belgian content, please make more of these video's!
you make us belgians very happy
Good job, I've read the oryx article and you've summarized it very well. I look forward to future cooperative videos like this.
I wouldn't say it was cooperative, they probably don't know I exist lol. I used their recent article as a source/jumping off point to talk more about the DF90's flaws than I initially planned, but my Patrons got the script for this video back in March
@@BattleOrderI am sure they know of your existence battle order, I thought with the link in the description and shared topic it was a collaborative effort with your video being a bit delayed. Maybe you could get in contact see if you guys could get something in the works 😅.
@@wheneggsdrop1701 I'm pretty sure they've shut down
@@BattleOrder yup I believe oryx is done if not almost done a a project. A few articles of visual loss data will be maintained. Its sad to see such a fine piece of journalism cease to operate due to burnout and pressure.
@@wheneggsdrop1701pretty sure oryx is a 2 man team and the dutch guy is the one that retiring
Very cool vid. Topic suggestion: Taiwanese armed force with similar analysis like this video since they also is facing some armor vehicle development issue. Maybe you can also explain an example of Taiwanese defense toward the scenario you've made before in Chinese amphibious force video.
There is no such thing as the taiwanese armed forces. There, the Republic of China Army that is is based primarily on the island of taiwan. 😊
I would really like to see a comparison to the Dutch infantry units now considering they are integrating with the German army
Hey, Great video ! I would love to hear more about Belgium's Special Operations Regiments. It's structure, role and stuff !
Hi, go to check in line,"special force group "Belgique ...SFG....
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with the war Ukraine, infantry sections are also training to deploy with an RGW MATADOR + extra shot in addition to the two LAWs (though in practice replacing them because no one wants to carry that much shit). This is what the motorized brigade's command wants in any case, but the Belgian army doesn't have enough in stock currently to actually equip infantry sections in such a way.
As a long time (ie old) Belgian Reserve Officer I can only shake my head wearily and think how small and under equipped our army has become. 6 (Inf/Recce) battalions, most under strength and then some light infantry (ParaCdo) is all a country of 10M+ inhabitants can field. No MBT's, no decent artillery. Usually very well trained and motivated military deserve better. If you ask me we should be able two field at least two complete divisions (XX) / with 6 Brigades (X) in peace time and a Corps (XXX) with all support and staff when things heat up without going to full mobilisation.
Battle Order, Idk about your plans on videos of older unit concept, but there is some digital material on Danish army structure during 1930s and up to 1940, 9 of April, that you may find useful for a video at some point
So basically the Belgian rn is playing Wargame motorized deck
But they never Play 1v1 😅
Can you make a video of finnish infantry structure?
As a former FAO with 6th Artillery, Soest 1990, 8 manouvres in 13 months, Elsenborn, Vogelsang, Sennelager and Bergen Hoehne, attached to the 4th Lancers, I cry when I see the remnants of the army equipped with souped up green painted SUVs. Who would need artillery nowadays in 2023 in this fast mobile warfare environment? Ejeets.
Who needs artillery in 2023? Ukraine badly needs the artillery to stop the Russian invasion. Had you watched the news?
@@romk.m.1081 my comment was a sarcastic comment on the fools that sold all our hardware. FYI, the howitzers I worked with in 1990 are now in Ukraine. Guess some good came out of the idiocy.
Cooperation with foreign militaries is nothing new. Belgium already has a long term partnership with the French to facilitate the basic pilot training programme and we do have a joint command for the navy with the dutch aswell as joint procurement for frigates and minesweepers/hunters. The major problem this army has faced and continues to face is the complete lack of long term financial decisions from the government which means that every couple of years, the military has to completely change it's investment plans and they don't seem to manage to get a coherent strategy because of it. Another major issue has been recruitment, the belgian army is filled with old man and replacing those has proven to be difficult since the younger generation has no intrest in joining the military due to the "reputation" of the army and the low, or presumption of, salary.
Whenever I hear the M2 .50 being in foriegn service, the term "American People Deleter" comes to mind lol
If you think you're useless, just remember that Belgium has an army.
I'm half Dutch and it's sad the Dutch army in integrating with the german army. And the Belgium army is integrating with the French army. Even tho they should be cooperating with each other.
I believe they're still cooperating with their navies, only the land components are working with France and Germany. As for the air forces I'm not sure
@stevenbastin8741 Yes, our navy's are cooperating. and we switch the responsibility to guard our airspace every couple of months
My grand dad was in the lancers
The FN pistol for each is excess, yes.
But: pistol is very handy for foreign bases if there is a requirement to (nearly) always be armed. Far, far easier to carry a pistol than a SCAR.
(and it might be a tiny wee bit corruption helping FN)
Also: calling it 'Frenchification' or 'integration with France' is sensitive.
France suicided the Rafale offer by offering integration.
So: F35's from big daddy USA.
Ground vehicles from France.
Navy with Netherlands.
I wish we'd quit the German-French FCAS, even as observer status and joined the Tempest :p
Edit, some addendums:
The 'weapon locker' concept: I reckon the mortar & anti-tank weapons are the most useful.
The .50 cal option is basically legacy, and only for fixed emplacements.
The 90mm cannon is known to be a case of corruption.
The Wallonian (at the time) defence minister gave the contract to Cockerill, a... Wallonian-French company.
Afaik, we are not buying the ATGM's for the Jaguars ( 😞). 'fitted for but not with' penny-pinching.
No tanks: strategically, at the Leopard 1 replacement time, the decision was made to have no main tracked vehicles. Hence, no M113 Gavins, no other tracked AFV/IFV, no tanks,... no tracked howitzers. Wheels or bust. (strategic mobility over tactical mobility. Also: cheaper; penny pinching, and the reality that heavy vehicles in a true war won't have bridges to use over Belgium's rivers)
In that context, and with the Dutch going a different route, the French route is unfortunately probably the best we can do (no political will to look at South-Korean vehicles e.g.).
Not having tanks is thus a strategical decision, even without extra budget: does Belgium really need 2 large (for us) frigates and the anti-mining vessels for it's short coast, knowing the European & Nato context (tons of frigates around in EU waters)?
That can buy quite a few tanks right there.
F35: also a rather expensive option. (imo, a correct one for being a stealth fighter vs non-stealth competition, and despite being 'USA' one that is used by more European international partners than any of the Gryphen, Rafale or Eurofighter...)
Restarting proper artillery is long overdue however. I consider 9+19 to still be a low amount, considering Ukraine experience.
Some Rocket artillery would not be amiss, nor more modern anti-air. (possibly we're slowly moving towards the Aster 30)
Your lack of knowledge is as hopeless as your opinion...
New brick just dropped
@@Jugement meaning?
I'm alway surprised by the logic of number of naval vessels wrt the length of the coastline . What's easily forgotten is the importance of the (now integrated) Antwerp- Port of Bruges harbour and it's location . It's strategically of the highest importance . Also, 71% of the earth surface is water and Belgium has the 4th largest merchant fleet of the world . Might be interesting to protect . And as anti- drugs operations, illegal trafficking get more important ... Belgium is very vulnerable on that point too . Finally, you're dead wrong about the number of frigates & escorts . The UK invested in large assets (aircraft carriers) but no longer has the means or personnel to have enough escort vessels . The Dutch don't have enough vessels to have a permanent patrol ship in the Caribbean . NATO has way not enough frigates .
That's a lot of NCOs in those sections :-P
And in my time minimi was 5.56, but maybe they also made it 7.62
Gotta love the old camo pattern.
We! We will resist and bite! (Sabaton - Resist and Bite - about Chasseurs Ardennais)
I'm not surprised the Belgians divide their units into French and Flamish.
Originaly, we were divided by provinces (our historical subdivisions), but since the dumb regionalization, everything has to be done around language. Many Belgians want to get rid of that system and go back to more unity.
@@Thomas-gs8ugsomething something… ww1
Is it any different in any other bilingual country ? Finland has some swedish speaking units. In Canada and Switzerland it is the same. Operational units are mostly organised along language lines.
@@lws7394 I think it also has to do with dividing the power equally between Flanders and Wallonia to prevent tension and potential separatism. Whereas Swedish speaking units in the Finnish Army and French speaking units in the Canadian Army are clear minorities. I believe the U.S. military does a similar thing with ensuring their officers are split roughly 50/50 between their political parties.
@@fridrekr7510 Out of 4 so called 'Canadian Divisions' one (the 2nd) is francophone. That suggest 25% to be french speaking. I read somewhere that even 1/3 of the Regular Army units would be french. ( traditionally most units would be based in the east , i guess) .
In Finland the Nyland Brigade (marines corps) is fully swedish speaking , within the 'finnish' command structure.
Lol, that Flanders reference.
Please do some videos on the greek military
The French and the Belguim army brothers in arms in the first and the second W War copin pour toujours
So what you're saying is that these Belgians haven't learned a thing since the blitz lol
Other than terrorism, they don’t face a credible threat to their homeland. They couldn’t stop a bizarre world enemy Germany or France if they wanted too and any conflict with Russia will with them sending troops to NATO’s Eastern flank.
Most of the Belgians whom experienced the Blitz are pushing daisies . About 15% of the Belgians now however, have parents that experienced desert warfare between Rommel and Montgomery ... (wink, wink)
im from belgium
Can you make a Video about the modern german Jägertruppe or the Panzergrenadiere
FN FAL best Belgian invention
The half of Belgium his French spoken ,and under French influence.The other side his Dutch spoken and more Dutch and Englisch influence .The country dont work good with this problem . This gouvernement ficht always in politic way between the Flemisch side and the French side . 😮
Every other NATO nation to Belgium: Just get some MBTs.
Belgiums: NO.
For decades our Belgian army had to cut back on expenses, not to mention some questionable (or even corrupt) political decisions. I can't really blame the military for the choices they had / have to make with the little money they have, but oh boy, is there work to do!
Let me get this straight. You’re telling me that every soldier not only gets the golden ar from Fortnite but also gets the rifle pistol?
The FiveSeven is a good pistol . I do have some doubts for female military personnel . The grip isn't well suited for smaller hands .
Belgium 🇧🇪 needs to stop selling chocolate hands
#BeingSaneInInsanePlaces
It has nothing to do with the congo it has to do with a folk tale about a gaint whose hand got amputated
I'm a member of the Belgian Air Force, I applaud the accuracy and research you've done for this video.
Everything was spot on and well researched. The only thing that might be outdated was the Jigsaw camo on the images of the soldiers. The vast majority of the Belgian military switched over to multicam since this year.
probably because the only military footage he could find used the outdated camo, you did say it was swapped to digital as early as this year
All the cool unique camouflages get replaced by generic multicam
@@BrouwerVids like Alpenflage (TAZ-83), the camo of a pizza delivery man on the frontline
@@BrouwerVids I mean camo is meant to be functional, not cool and unique, so this is probably a good thing.
ABL camo lives on, in our hearts ❤
Belgian recon here, great video! Army been in dissaray from the 90s until 2015
Imagine if only we had AMX10 to go with Pandur
And if only we had Leclerc/leopard2 for the combat units
@@quintus_rex7381 just imagine, one thing I always tell my colleague is that a single Battalion of Leopards or Abrams or K2's would do better for public image and recruiting than all those expensive TV ads they make every year
@@lecroco-kp4oc
ah yes, those Ads with not-issued-to-everyone NVG in a bright sunny day 🥸
At least we still have some leopard as decoy in our barracks and camps
Salut d'un français compliment pour votre engagement !! Pour les chars on va attendre que KMW et Rheinmetall s'entendent et on vous fera un beau MBT surtout avec KMW ( pas du tout besoin de Rheinmetall y a Nexter) vive nos AMIS belges !!!
I hope you don't mind if I ask you what the difference is between the Jagers te paard en the infantry recon platoon?
The 90mm gun was only decided because the defense minister (André Flahaut) at the time gave the contract to a friend with a factory. The plan was for 105mm to actually replace the Leopards.
This corruption only came to light when the ministers changed and the order was immediately stopped iirc.
There literally was no strategic or tactical reason for switching to 90mm.
Every time a french speaking socialist becomes minister of defense, corruption starts and the contracts go to french companies.
That would have been a question from me. Because 105mm is an absolute Nato standart. Is there an other Nato nation which use 90mm shells actually? If not it can be very expensive in the future especially if there are not many manufacturer(and i think so). Is it the same ammo calliber like in the old M48 Patton?
@@85daniel nobody in NATO uses Flahaut's 90mm gun ... one of the reasons to withdraw them
Honestly, why not experiment with a 122mm Autoloading Tank Destroyer based off the M4 Sherman?
@@85daniel 90mm was supposed to be sold to South-East Asia countries because it was made for trials for their abundant M41 chassis they got.
Cockerill lost the trials but were overconfident and already built dozens of these guns !! And to avoid bankruptcy, MoD bought these guns platforms
Me on twitter "Oh nice Battleorder is going to do a video about the Belgian army, let's hope he doesn't bring out our terrible procurement like oryx always does."
Sees titles: Dies inside
I love it when you are covering less well known armies or operations. Really an exellent source to learn about it.
Should cover relevant non western armies instead of covering irrlevant small armies like this, just because they are "european"
@malithaw he has done videos on china and japan. And a lot of countries dont really have these informations easily accessable.
@@malithawlove how u say irrelevant small armies like this yet comment “do indian army next” 💀💀💀💀💀
@@chemistryfps you think is Indian army is a small, non relevant army? 💀
@@malithawcry more
Informative video and a "delightful" reminder that weird and corrupt military procurement decisions aren't restricted to big spenders like the US and Russia or developing nations.
Ты это не говори обычным жителям украины они "уверовали" в что в странах ЕС нет коррупции и все живут богато . эти дурочки просто не понимают как работает коррупция в разных странах в США это называется лоббирование в РФ это может принимать разные формы . и что самое удивительное на низовых уровнях это может быть благом . например для ускорение выполнения каких либо бюрократических условий. Все зависит как на это смотреть . и какой ущерб это приносит.
@@Фибоначчи-я9с maybe learn to translate your comments if you want to engage in discussion in a comment section that's 99.999% english. You cant expect every possible reader to use a translator themselves. Do your homework.
@@justalonesoul5825 You can turn around the argument and say: it's not that hard to translate through a translator. Don't be a lazy ass.
@@Фибоначчи-я9с Nobody is going to bother with that. Why even comment?
It's not necessarily "corruption" (in the shape of: getting enveloppes with money) Very often it has to do with: if company X made a better jeep than company Y, but the government of the latter company promises twice as much investments of all sorts in Belgium, politicians tend to deny the best option for the Armed Forces, jeep X and will go for the not so good or even bad Y. "Economic compensations" often have priority over efficiency. In the USA, it is the same: it is not just for fun that some companies open facilities in different states, even if it would make more sense to concentrate everything on one site: having sites in different states means that you have different senators which have good reasons to support that company.
I've served within the Belgian Army during 8 years(from 1982-end of 89)in which I personally witnest several weaknesses in several weapon-systems in the artillery-purchases of that day(M109-M110) It never cease to amaze me how some military purchases/decisions are made within the Belgian army. You've obviously done your home-work on this and have my respect for it...
we are going to buy more Caesar today we just need more capable things for antitank task like tanks or more antitank system like the mmp french missile or the javelin
Hey, I served also during 24 years in the belgian army. Two of these were in infantry as a grenadier. I just want to bring a little correction to your remak concerning the "decisions made within the belgian army". This is not completely exact. The army test more kinds of material and summit it to the politics with their prefernces. But at the end, it's the politic who decide. See comment from menmenm!
I saw you also talked about the 43 Gemechaniseerde brigade (Dutch Mechanized brigade), can you do that one next, that would be really interesting to see as I heard they where going to upgrade their CV90's with a MLU.
Loved the Flanders graphic
It's pretty much our best option as a small country to have close cooperation with the French army like the Dutch to with the German army. Makes it more efficient in if needed a real situation.
Yes, so are the european and Nato initiatives, but they cannot serve as an excuse to fragment and downgrade your army by leaning on your partners to do the job.
I suspect that the Belgian military looks to France instead the Netherlands because the French speaking don't understand or speak a word of Dutch/Flemish.
@@christianwouters6764they have to speak English within the army anyway. And the dutch speak an almost perfect English. So nope.
The reason would rather be that France has a bigger and better army, as well as many years of experience they're also in the top 3 most powerful European armies. The other options being the UK (which are quite far and yet, some Belgian special forces trains with them) and Germany (now we could suggest language barriers, only barely)
@@stevenbastin8741 Belgium isn't some satellite state to France, although France often behaves that way. Belgium finally condemned the war in Mali. A Belgian died in Mali, thanks to a fuckup of the French foreign legion. There never was a problem saying no to the war in Iraq though. So in some way, Belgium does seem to be in it deep with France.
Belgium had the first licensed snipers on the European mainland since 1993, half year training in England.
Then there's the training ground in Otterburn, Scottland for the para's, who are entirely modeled after British example.
Also historically, it was the UK that guaranteed Belgium's neutrality, so it makes a lot more sense to seek further integration with them.
The main and final objective should of course be a European army... In which neither France, the UK or Germany has the biggest say because that rivalry is always contra productive and still very vivid till this day, especially in the army. Maybe just linguistical for the English, for obvious reasons.
Honestly, as a smaller military it might be better for you guys to explore the combat team option. Something at the battalion level that's akin to a regimental combat team would do wonders, as each unit would be able to self-support and thus be more tactically effective. I would advise against following the Russian example for obvious reasons, but the Brits and the US have decent examples.
I'm Belgian and it hurts me to see our army in such a shamefull state. Time to invest more in a true army that is not only meant to support our bigger allies, but can also defend itself and be independant if need be
Just surrender... Maybe join the invaders murderous death army and fight in the east. I don't know.
Become a PM fren, that way you can work to increase defense spending to 5.75% GDP over the next 5 Fiscal Years...
@@AlbertCamus-r6i5.75% GDP, LULz, we're coming from below 1% at the lowest, very, very slowly going to the 2% benchmark.
Invade The Netherlands?
In the era of UE and NATO, and other superpowers like China and its 1.4B inhabitants, a super small country like Belgium cannot be expected to defend itself independantly against any threat. And the country is being bled dry by ultraliberals and capitalists anyway. We dont have resources for the army and more pressing issues than being invaded from France or Germany, or The Netherlands!
Time to invest more in our infrastructures, hospitals, doctors and nurses. In schools, public services, public transport. Costa Rica has lived its life without the slightest army since 1948 and has been largely better for it.
Interesting mix of the M72 and the MATADOR at the Platoon level, that is a lack of medium/heavy AT capability that other comparable forces get with NLAW/Carl Gustav. Seems to be a deliberate choice with the direct fire platoon having the AT capability, I wonder how closely integrated they are in action.
Seems like you forgot to mention the integration of Spike MR into the 30mm RWS of the Piranha DF30. A few years ago some (all?) were modernized with a turret capable of firing Spike MR, so there is a mounted AT capability in the battalions.
If I'm not mistaken, that upgrade is still underway. Haven't seen too many images of upgrades platforms yet
@@panzerknoef The DF30's have received the Spike ATGM's upgrade in 2022-2023. The ones that I have seen at events and on bases have them.
i can confirm most of them have the "upgrade" if we can call it an upgrade since shooting a missile badly fucks-up the vehicule but there is a solution on it's way@@F2000-q2z
As a Belgian I found this video very informative
As a Belgian I've found the content of this video embarrassing. Ons leger is werkelijk behoorlijk zielig.
@@flybeep1661 at least we still have people that want to protect us and don't forget that the military is not the only ones that will fight for us, we still have special forces, secret services etc.. Ofc hopefully there won't be wars but if it happens we still have people to fight for us
As a member of a Direct fire platoon (df-30 and 90 gunner), I can say this is pretty accurate
In ln opinion and based on research. Belgium can easily rebuild it's army by making defence to 2.1´% of it's GDP. I think it's also necessary to buy advanced weaponry, tanks and more drones.
Tanks ? For what ? They're nice on posters and good for recruitment, but when you see what happens to them in Ukraine...
Bradleys seem to make more sense
Tanks? Why? You do realize we'd have to move them and the supply chain more than 1000 km to be of any use.
Maybe we should focus on equipment that we can deploy more quickly.
Honestly does anyone know Belgium shouldn’t be a country and should be split between Netherland and France
after napoleonic wars England didn’t want a bigger Holland become so powerful then didn’t let the Flanders join their Dutch cousins and attached the Wallonia and made the Belgium until now there isn’t such sense of unity as Belgian nation
You are forgetting the entire Belgian revolution tho 😂
The cannon on the Jaguar is a technical marvel. At 40mm, it has the same ballistic power as a 105mm cannon. It has canistered ammunition, so you have a much higher ammo capacity. And it has several different types of ammo to boot
It's a 40 mm and the stuff you typed is what they tried to tell everyone and so far it has been a spectacular failure. The actual performance has been abysmal...
@@PiFe00List the problems.
@@majormoolah5056 The telescoped ammunition does not reach anywhere near it's desired lethal effect due to the combustion not working properly and just basically a lot of wishful thinking and clever marketing without taking into account the reality of physics. The penetration values at range are laughable compared to 105 and so is the HE burst effect (inate due to its size). They said the RoF would compensate (many medium booms instead of one BIG BOOM ...). They tried to sell it as valid replacement for a medium calibre gun but should just accept it for what it is, a decent (not great) autocannon. They could (should) have mounted an existing 30 mm for virtually the same effect and a fraction of the cost.
@@PiFe00 What are your sources?
The voices in the sky@@majormoolah5056
Belgium had disinvestment in its army since the early 90s as the political decision was that war isn't the army's business anymore and there came a focus on smaller roles as peacekeeping, demining, some limited special forces action. Yes, that may seem absurd, but Belgian politics repeatedly said the army doesn't need fighting capability.
As a result of this all tanks and anti tank capability were scraped, anti air was abolished, artillery was out and the defence minister was allowed to order his Piranha vehicles with a substandard not NATO compatible gun that would benefit a factory where his constituents worked. The moment that minister was gone, the army tried to get out of it, but it was too late. Now the Piranhas have to be replaced as they suffer from many problems. The other 'special' vehicle from that era, the Iveco LMV also have to be replaced as they are falling apart after just a decade of service.
Copying France is probably the best way to quickly fix things back into operational as the current army isn't even capable of going to a standard African peacekeeping mission anymore. All have clearly seen drones make air defence a basic survival requirement as anyone nowadays can do improv air bombardment with anti armour shells.
Getting tanks would be a nice bonus, but given how underequiped the Belgian army is now, getting things up to French standards is the main priority now. Because the moment the Ukraine war isn't in the news, Belgian politics will try to find a way to disinvest in the army again.
ouch, did having their country being used as a flanking manuever during both world wars really want them to castrate themselves that badly in the way of the military?
I don't think getting MBTs is a priority or even the right move for Belgium. From an European perspective, it's more efficient for the smaller countries to invest in what the bigger countries lack, or to conform to their organization to completement them better. This is the current move.
Belgium and the Netherlands focusing on air power and lighter, more strategically mobile units makes more sense than to for heavy, less flexible armored units like Germany or Poland.
This is a step in the right direction, as you said, but I also fear the Wallon/Flemish divide will once again interfere with a cohesive Belgian policy.
@@deadahead6775 I can agree with this sentiment, but then we'd actually have to invest more in our air power as well. Would need to order about a dozen more F-35 than we ordered currently, finally make the decision to arm our Reaper drones and procure some additional cheaper light strike drones in the class of the TB2 imo.
Tanks at this point for a military as small as Belgiums will be a nice bonus, but not a priority, since if they ever went out to fight, they would likely be integrated with allied armour. That being said, the Jaguar is an astoundingly good vehicle, and will serve the Belgian Troops well as a armoured recon and direct fire support vehicle.
@@deadahead6775 I certainly agree with you. Overall Belgium getting their own tanks would be prohibitively expensive and would degrade their other capabilities.
However, one potential option could be for Belgium to rent tanks from France similarly to what the Dutch are doing with German Leopards. It could be a more affordable way for Belgium to retain a unit within their own army trained in armored warfare, comfortable with working closely with France, and which could potentially be expanded more quickly in a time of severe crisis.
Although, unlike the Dutch, Belgium has not had MBTs in decades so whatever domestic knowledge base they had it long gone.
Troubled army lol. Yikes.
I know you generally just do whatever you like and not what others tell you to, but Dutch Army integration into German Bundeswehr would be a really cool and niche subject as well.
I've never really looked into Belgium's Army composition or status, even for it being my own country.
But this random video popped up, got my attention, and I'm glad I watched it. Thank you
Very interesting as an Fr I didn't realised we are so close from French's language belgium forces. Hystorically always did what they could. Not only for business didn't neither new they already got Jaguars, and Griffon ( saw Griffon on truck, it looks small but in real it is "BIG" ) "recon" in FR style contains agressive posture not at all only "detect" ❓️ 200 rounds/minute from CTC 40mm of little jaguar.. donno if an MBT can stay 100% efficient ?
What?
Get a high-tech modern army with a small amount of money. The French army is a good example.
The modernization and upgrading of the Chinese Army draws in-depth reference from the French Army and the Canadian Army.
For example: Changhe Z-10 helicopter, ZBL-08 Infantry Fighting Vehicle, PCL-181 howitzer.
@455ch33kI think he is making a reference to the capability not the machine itself
The Belgian army doesn't exist to wage war, or even to fight. We only use it to parade in front of the Royal Palace on National Day. It also parades in the streets to reassure the population when there are terrorist attacks (A Belgian).
We have Military deployed in 4 different countries tho
If you are flabbergasted at these decisions as an outsider, you need to realize that it is overly evident to any resident who tries to keep up, that Belgium is one of the most high-level corrupt Western countries you can imagine. It rains money- and funds-related scandals here weekly at the highest levels, involving public transport, vaccines, army acquisition, parliamentary pensions and spending, healthcare, etc. on a weekly basis involving the most prominent politicians. If it's significant enough, it may make headlines for a day or two (most of the time, it won't though). And after a few days or a week at most, these stories just disappear from the heavily government-subsidized press never to be heard from again, and life continues.
The only country in my experience that comes remotely close is Great-Britain.
The ineffectiveness of the Belgian army has been an area of shame for ages.
The APC story goes much deeper and gets very political, but in essence it mostly demonstrates the legacy systemic corruption, mostly on the French speaking side of the army. Strategic decisions are altered for political reasons.
For example (details are inaccurate but demonstrate the principle that was applied), when they negotiated the previous purchase of APCs, the French speaking command had chosen a vehicle which cannon didn't even have NATO ammunition. Instead it would be using a proprietary FN munition that required a logistical nightmare supply chain if a Belgian unit was deployed in a joint mission with NATO. (like the one in Yugoslavia back then) So the Flemish common sense was not okay signing off on such a purchase. They demanded that at least the gun would be changed to a NATO standard munition. In order to be willing to agree to this, the Walloon guys demanded that certain contracts would be awarded to Walloon contractors only (FN is not the only military manufacturer in Belgium) even though a technically better offer from abroad was on the table.
And that's how it goes with every politically influenced decision. Some guys take a bribe or have conflicts of interest. They make a ridiculous proposal to benefit their benefactors. The shortcomings are pointed out. Half of them get fixed as a compromise, and the other half goes to the corrupt worst bid.
It makes no sense to anyone who doesn't live here, because our political system only makes sense on matters of opinion. Strategic value is a matter of science, so any military decision should not be made with our political methods.
If you want to make a video on how corruption has undermined the operability and response capability of the Belgian Army, look into the Agusta-Dassault scandal where big bribes were given to buy an inferior helicopter that didn't even meet the requirements of the tender.
Belgium's financial situation doesn't allow the country to deliver the 2 % of the GDP Nato agreements require. Everyone and everything needs money in Belgium; the Justice system wants more prisons and more money for the State Security, the police want an increase of their wages, since they never really were adapted to the increasing cost of living, the educational system begs for more funds, so do hospitals and nurses. So, Belgium HOPES to reach 1,59 % of the GDP in .... 2030. Flying with and the maintenance of the F 35's will eat a very large part of the Defense budget. Until now, Belgium got away with the insufficient budget, because it participated in several international conflicts, think Kosovo, Afghanistan etc. The 35's however are not the type of planes you'd use in the Balkan, in far away Asian or African countries. They're too expensive and precious. I'm not even sure the F 35 will be efficient in Belgium: the B 2 bombers are said to be not ideal in rain, as the radar absorbant coating might get damaged. The Dutch also damaged the coating of their first F 35 during the welcome show, when a firetruck sprayed foam on the plane. Let's hope the F 35's coating is better protected against rain, because it can be damned wet here.
Rafale is as expensive, both in purchase as in maintenace as a F35
SCAR is said to be an amazing gun in real combat
The latest variants are better than m4 and m16. The bren 2 is just as good but cheaper
Nice Video. WOWS was really dishing out a lot of money at the End of last year :)
Belgium camo in their jacked helmedhood etc.etc😂 blue,pastelgreen yellow..
The SCAR gives me the same feeling as when I first saw the WW2 STG assault rifle, so aesthetic.
As a french i love the belgian army, some how i feel they're like our little brothers, and the fact that they will adopt our equipment it's pretty cool.
The only shit thing is the fact their army is divided by languages and regionalism, i think it's and it will be a huge obstacle for making a better Belgium army
As a reservist in the Belgian motorized brigade, which consists of both french speaking, dutch spreaking and bilingual units, I've never experienced language as a barrier for co-operation. Belgians are generally capable of speaking the second language to some degree at least. Furthermore, when we train with our Wallonian sister unit, we always give briefings and communicate in English, as would be the case in international operations with other NATO countries.
bof, pas vraiment, il faut être bilingue (soit parler la 2e langue nationale soit anglais) pour être pris dans la défense il me semble, c'est le cas pour la plupart des belges en général, ona des cours de langues des la primaire...
@@ltournay only officers need to be bilingual. The general consensus is, if there's ONE French speaking dude in the group ...we all speak French :-) The op does have a good point though, deployment of a flemish unit in a French Bn in a hot conflict will never, ever happen, there is just too much risk of miscommunication
As a Belgian reserve officer I'm offended by your language statement. The Dutch speaking majority in Belgium still has a trauma from French speaking overlordship which lasts until today. The Flemish speak French much more readily than our French speaking counterparts. Close cooperation with France will make matters "worst" in our armed forces.
... the only reason we little belgians seem to like the french is because we hate the dutch more ... *just kidding, we have an equal distaste for both their imperialistic mindsets.
In practice the flemish-walloon opposition is political theatre to keep the dutch and the french from invading our borders. ;-) *not really meaning that, please don't nuke Waterloo, we're still very scared of the French Terrorrists we swear.
Joking aside, the language is only a barrier for promotion opportunities.
Working together with someone from a different language region is not much harder than working together with someone from another city, they are equally unintelligable due to diversity in dialects so we're used to it. Working with the french is harder because they say weird shit like 60 12 instead of 72. Or they talk for 15 minutes in vague generalities and assume everyone agrees with the decision they made in their head, and then the Walloon and the Flemming at the table will look at eachother like "wtf, why did he leave after a useless 15 minute string of 'formules de politesse'?"
The problem in Belgium is not the tank, it the country and the Belgium themselves
True, Belgium should not exist as a country. Their government is a real circus with a lot of corruption, btw, there aren't many Belgians anymore except those who go working and pay all taxes to keep the circus going on and on 😂
Belgian army is weak: for 2023, Belgium is ranked 68 of 145 out of the countries considered for the annual Globalfirepower review. In Europe Belgium is ranked 17 of 25 countries included in the 2023 European Union Military Strength annual defense review. (Top5: France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Germany) But Belgians are good at parading just watch 'Belgian Defense Cadets'.
yeah weird that one of the smallest countries doesn't have one of the strongest armies...🙄
@@tomfiremissionblog5283 Denmark's population (5.8 million) is half of Belgium's (11.7 million), but Denmark is ranked 50 of 145.
Czech Republic's population (10.8 million) is slightly less than Belgium's, but Czechia is ranked 48 of 145.
Portugal's population (10.3 million) is less than Belgium's, but Portugal is ranked 41 of 145.
So yes, when compared with similar European countries Belgian army is weak.
@@cykablyat6531 good thing we're investing then
@@cykablyat6531 Rankings bla bla bla come to my base come do 1 day with us you wont survive
Cant wait to meet my 2024 belastingsbrief
OK, the Belastingdienst has approved with enthousiasm your request. It will be send with high priority.
Maybe the Italian Army in a future video. Think that would be cool
Lots of sunglasses, APC's with unnecessary spoilers etc ? :0) Just jokin'....
Love the Flanders reference at 7:02 lol
Lol I missed that thanks xD
Very cool topic I wonder if you can do one on the Belarusian military because Belgian troops are in Eastern Europe ready to face Russian and Belarusian soldiers
Love how Belgium splits up batallions in "1 per language"
Never underestimate the ABL, when promised beer on the other side.
Very good video, keep it up💪, you should talk about the failure of the Portuguese Army next specialy its Mechanized Brigade 😂
Some M109s and M113s of Belgium ended up in my country.
It's good that the belgian army is finally modernizing I just hope they also don't forget about the logistic picture
I used to be a Mistral gunner, awesome platform and glad they are bringing it back!
Belgium Paratroopers, are still very professional, and well into the top five of airborne.
I wonder whos the man being used as a cutout of a soldier in the video
And then having him multiplied as a whole pirahna crews and section in the video. And I wonder if this man watches this video and sees himself being cloned while wearing that face buff mask and posed like that
To quote any belgian watching this: " oh yeah? With what money?"
video on the Italian army?
Net zoals verwacht, valt België weer achter...
Ze pakken graag je geld af
Unfortunately, the Belgian army is rarely supported by politicians and the budget of the Ministry of Defense has been affected for a long time. The state of our army is because our politicians believed in a world of care bears and moved towards UN-style peacekeeping missions. Obviously moving a leopard battalion into these environments was difficult. Moreover, undoubtedly the Defense budget should be reduced as much as possible, as was the civil protection organization, or like the deficiency of the fire services of which all firefighters complain. After stripping our units of their weapons (Leopard for the cavalry, AIFV for the infantry, M109 for the artillery, the Guepard etc.) we realize that the Russian threat is re-emerging for Europe but the investments there dedicate would be such that our politicians are trying by all means to find partnerships to re-equip the units again at lower cost. It is only for the planes that we will spend a fortune on the F35 when there will only ever be 4 in flight. We are a small country and we should have the ambitions of a small country. Here our politicians are trying to play in the big leagues while we do not have the financial means. Personally I think that we should confine the Navy to its mission of mine clearance from the Channel and access to the port of Antwerpen as in the past. The land force can remain in its current configuration but must be rearmed as it was in the 1990s. We must think about the air force because its expenses are abysmal due not only to the price of aircraft but also to their maintenance. Should we buy so many? already with the F16 some of them were simply stored for a long time.
The Belgian armybus very interesting since it's a small nation with no threats of invasions. But at the same time it's part of NATO and headquarters NATO in its capital, in a way to satisfy its allies it has build up this very mobile effective supporting military. Really cool to see... If only we could see it tested 😂
I'm from Belgium, Flanders and i want to join the army next year, gives me great joy and a bit of pride we're finnally starting to improve but mainly fix our army
why would you want to die for a country that doesn't give a f about you or your family
@@da41because HE cares for his family and friends. You don't join in hoping to save politics but hoping to protect your loved ones.
You are free to run like a coward and leave your country. No one would mind
@@stevenbastin8741 exactly, u understand me brother i want to join to protect my loved ones, for honor and for duty
@@da41 i want to join to protect my loved ones, for honor and for duty
@@stevenbastin8741you take care of your family by providing them protection resources and guidance. army doesn’t pay, you’re constantly away from your family and you’re only dying for some old bald men that went on a powertrip. By joining the army you only feed the war machine and contribute to destruction. While you are dying in a trench like a real hero i’ll make sure my family is safe. Also you’re not helping your family by being dead.
Could you make a video about the Netherlands? They are also quite interesting since they lease 18 Leopard2A6's from Germany.
I heard they get leo2a8.
@@HedgehogZone where did you hear that? I'm Dutch myself and I love tanks it would be fucking awesome
Are you gonna do anything on the Czech Army - big new acquisitions coming!
you sound like a local band posting 'big news comming!'
Hasn't Ukraine proven tanks are obsolete? That Bradley taking out that T90 was an eyeopener and I bet many generals took note. The emergence of drone brigades will be interesting.
Belgium should have kept the old tanks but should have upgraded them with the new turrets and the new ascalon gun+ a new armor package
at the end of the day they proved the concept and if those tanks can perform their roles as armored support for mech infantry as well as line of sight artillery it would be fine.
that being said Belgium has allready sold, bought back and then given away it's tanks in a series of events that just stink of establishment party corruption to me. So it may be best to immediatly buy new tanks and equip them with the ascalon guns given that old tanks do tend to have a lot of maintenance woes. That being said they also lost most of their teething issues so i'l leave this one to the mechanics (the engineers should be listened to but they are actually a bit blind to anything beyond their area of expertise and often they neglect to considder nuances)
man I thought I knew how badly atrophied NATO had gotten but I didn't realize it was this bad. Belgium used to field a Corps!
in Belgium we have a saying: the Belgian army is the most dangerous in the world, it's so small you won't see I coming...