F-16 Fighting Falcon News

October 15, 2008 (by Lieven Dewitte) - The Dutch ministry of defense has tightened security at military bases in the Netherlands following an undercover TV program which exposed shortcomings in security at the bases.
In the SBS 6-programma 'Undercover in Nederland', a reporter entered military bases without authorization in Woensdrecht and Havelte.

He spent the night at Woensdrecht AB and could get "so close to an F-16, he could even touch it."

Radio Netherlands Worldwide stated the following: "He managed to gain access to F-16 fighter planes, sleep at one of the bases and take a military truck without being challenged. He subsequently drove the truck on public roads and parked it inside another base, again without being stopped at any point. The army was not even aware that the vehicle had been taken and it remained unnoticed until the reporter handed in the keys a week later."

What they did not mention however is that he got help from ex-military personnel and that he only got close to wingless F-16s in a maintenance shelter. Woensdrecht is also not an operational Air Base, has an easily accessible civilian area (Fokker) and no weapons are stored there.

Note that in the US, a trespasser was killed in 2006 after a security breach on Selfridge ANG base.