Belgium has found itself the butt of several jokes online, after various French media outlets reported that the country bought a fleet of F-35 fighter jets that it won't be able to use, because its airspace is too small.
The articles all begin with the same sentiment, leaning into the friendly French-Belgian rivalry by referring to a "blague belge", or "Belgian joke", and noting the €5.6 billion sum that the government in Brussels shelled out for 34 of the US-made jets back in 2018.
