History
The history of the 31st Tiger Squadron goes back to the 1st of October 1951. On that day it was founded, as part of the 10th Tactical Wing at Beauvechain Airbase, together with 23 and 27 squadron.
The squadron
As a multirole squadron, 31 can be tasked to perform Air to Air missions as well as Air to Ground missions. In a nutshell, the Air to Air missions can be done to defend friendly territory from outsiders or to clear the way for bombers above enemy territory. The Air to Ground missions are mainly performed to slow down or eliminate enemy ground troops and ground based air defences. Fighters can also be "on call" to lend support to friendly ground troops having problems in the field. 31 squadron is part of NATO's High Readiness Forces and is permanently ready to fulfill these tasks in order to protect Belgian national airspace and territory, to support its NATO allies and to perform Peace Support missions under a United Nations mandate.
