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Commander of the Royal Netherlands Air Force
The Commander of the Royal Netherlands Air Force heads the Air Force Command. His primary task is to ensure that the Air Force units are ready for deployment. The Commander of the Royal Netherlands Air Force is tasked with preparing, leading and completing Air Force operations. He reports to the Chief of Defence.
Lieutenant General J.H.M.P. (Jac) Jansen, born on 29 February 1956 in Maastricht, the Netherlands, started his military career as an officer cadet at the Royal Military Academy (KMA) in Breda in 1975. On graduation, he had his pilot training in Canada, where he received his wings and military pilot’s qualification for flying heavy and jet engine aircraft. He took his conversion for the NF-5 at Twenthe Air Base, Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) in 1981.
From 1981 to 1988, Lieutenant General Jansen held several operational posts as a pilot with No. 314 Squadron at Eindhoven Air Base. He took the Higher Staff Course at the Air Force Staff School from 1988 to 1990 and subsequently completed his conversion to the F-16. Following this he was appointed as commanding officer of 306 Squadron at Volkel Air Base.
From 1993 to 1995, Lieutenant General Jansen was in charge of the major reorganisation of the F-16 operational bases of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. This was followed by his appointment as a Section Chief for National Plans at the Air Staff at the RNLAF Headquarters in The Hague. In 1995 he was posted to Twenthe Air Base as Chief of Operations. During this assignment he was also the commanding officer, from April 1996 through October 1996, of the Dutch F-16 detachment stationed at Villafranca Air Base in Italy. This unit was tasked with air operations over the Balkans during Operation Decisive Endeavour.
In 1997, Lieutenant General Jansen was made Base Commander of Twenthe Air Base, which assignment was followed in 2000 by his posting to the NATO Defence College in Rome, Italy. On graduation, he was posted to the NL Defence Crisis Response Centre at the Ministry of Defence in The Hague.
From 2001 to 2004 he was again posted to the RNLAF Headquarters, initially as Chief of the National Plans Branch and later as the Deputy Director for Plans and Policy. In 2004 he was assigned to the Ministry of Defence as the Chairman of the Project Group SAMSON, tasked with the implementation of the major reforms resulting from the Defence White Paper of 2003. In January 2007, he was posted to the NATO Air Component Command at Ramstein, Germany as the Chief of Staff.
As of 29 May 2008 he was appointed Commander of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, with concurrent promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General.
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