Jac Jansen

Jac Jansen (born February 29, 1956) is a retired lieutenant general of the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF). He was the Commander of the RNLAF from May 2008 until he left the service in 2012, he was director of Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre in April 2012 and left in 2017.^[1] As of September 21, 2018 he chaires the Supervisory Board of Royal NLR.^[2]

Jac Jansen
Commander of the Royal Netherlands Air Force
15th
In office 29 May 2008 – 9 March 2012
Preceded by	Lt. Gen. Hans de Jong
Succeeded by	Lt. Gen. Sander Schnitger
Director of Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre
In office 1 April 2012 – 2017
Preceded by	Karl-Heinz Kloos
Succeeded by	Ian Middleton
Chairman Supervisory Board of NLR
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 September 2018
Preceded by	Arie Kraaijeveld
Chairman Netherlands Aerospace Fund Foundation
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 June 2020
Preceded by	Alexander Schnitger
Personal details
Born	(1956-02-29) 29 February 1956 (age 69) Maastricht, Netherlands
Military service
Allegiance	Netherlands
Branch/service	Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force
Years of service	1979–2018
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands	Royal Netherlands Air Force NATO Air Component 306 Squadron Twenthe Air Base
Battles/wars	Operation Deny Flight Operation Allied Force

Born in Maastricht, Limburg, Jansen enrolled in the Royal Military Academy, Breda as an officer cadet in 1975.^[3] He had his pilot training in Canada, after receiving his military pilot certificate with his conversion to the NF-5 at Twenthe Air Base in 1981, he was posted to Eindhoven Air Base in 1981 spending seven years as an operational pilot in 314 Squadron. He later went on to the Air Force Staff School for a high staff course in 1988 to 1990. After his conversion to the F-16 Fighting Falcon he was made the commanding officer of 306 Squadron at Volkel Air Base. He later became the Section Chief for National Plans in RNLAF HQ, The Hague and the chief operations officer at Twenthe Air Base during the summer of 1995, later he was assigned commanding officer until the summer of 1996 for the Dutch F-16 detachment stationed at Villafranca Air Base Italy.^[4]

Commands

After his promotion to air commodore (brigadier general) in 1997 he was appointed Twenthe Air Base commander until 2000 when he left for the NATO Defence College, Rome and after completing his course, he continued in the Ministry of Defence in The Hague where he chaired the Defence Crisis Response Centre before being posted to serve as Chief of National Plans Branch in RNLAF headquarters until 2004, although he was later deputy director for Plans and Policy, HQ Air Force in Hague before moving to serve as Head of Project Group SAMSON in the Ministry of Defence until in 2007 left for the NATO Air Command at Ramstein Air Base, Germany and was made the chief of staff until he was promoted to as lieutenant general in May 2008 to serve as Commander of the RNLAF.^[5]