A Show Of Shame - Belgian Weapons Deliveries To Ukraine

 

Belgium's free-riding approach to the security of other NATO member states and of itself is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that in 2014 Belgian Prime Minister Di Rupo declared his country's intention to commit 2% of its GDP to defence spending by 2024, only for Prime Minister De Croo to do the same in 2022, but with the date to achieve this pushed back by eleven years to 2035. [1] Even after rising slightly in recent years, Belgium's budget remains one of the lowest in NATO, just barely cresting 1% of GDP for the first time in years in 2020 and 2021. [2] An early conclusion to the Russo-Ukrainian War, though unfortunately unlikely to occur at this point in time, would likely serve as the perfect excuse for a future Belgian government to keep the country's defence budget well below 2% of its GDP.

What wasn't empty were the depots of the Belgian private defence companies OIP Land Systems and FTS. Thus, in April 2022, the Belgian government attempted to buy back some of the M109A4BEs that it had sold to FTS years prior. [3] The M109A4BE is a modernised version of the M109A2/A3 SPG upgraded between 2005 and 2007. [4] Right after the successful conclusion of the modernisation programme in 2008, Belgium decided to phase out all tracked AFVs and so too decommission the 64 M109A4BEs with immediate effect in what was essentially a giant waste of taxpayer money. [4] Even though the M109s had just been completely refurbished and upgraded, the Belgian government later sold the remainder of the SPGs for the rock-bottom price of €15,000 each (including spare parts) to FTS. [5]

 

When in April 2022 the Belgian government attempted to buy back some of the 28 remaining M109s that hadn't yet been sold to Indonesia in 2016, FTS charged their normal price for each SPG, more than ten times the price the Belgian government had sold them for several years prior. [5] While the Belgian government was busy attempting to overcome the shock of this absolutely profound waste of taxpayer money, the United Kingdom stepped in and bought the SPGs for the same price tag they been offered for to Belgium. [6] Considering the urgency with which the Ukrainian Army needed artillery systems like the M109A4BE, the Belgian government's lack of any urgency to seal a deal because it didn't want to pay ten times the price out of principle (a conundrum entirely of their own making) can only be described as utterly shameful.

 

As the Belgian government attempted a final round of negotations with FTS regarding the price of the M109s in May 2022, they were told that the SPGs had already been sold to another party, which later turned out to be the United Kingdom. [6] Instead of purchasing other much-needed AFVs from OIP Land Systems such as AIFVs and M113 APCs (seen below), the Belgian Minister of Defence Ludivine Dedonder claimed that although deal had fallen through 'the main thing was that Ukraine now had the Belgian M109s'. [7] The whole affair is perhaps symbolic for Belgian politics, which is concerned more with symbolic gestures and endless budgetary discussions than effectual support.

The following list attempts to keep track of military equipment delivered or pledged to Ukraine by Belgium during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The entries below are sorted by armament category (with a flag denoting the country of origin). This list will be updated as further military support is declared.