Eng. / Fr. / Ru. /
Ten NATO countries1 plus two Partner countries (Finland and Sweden) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding confirming their participation in Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) initiative for the acquisition and sustainment of three Boeing C-17 strategic transport aircraft2.
The aircraft will be based at Papa Airbase in Hungary. The first aircraft is scheduled for delivery in Spring 2009 with the second and third aircraft to follow in Summer 2009.
The aircraft will be flown and maintained by multinational aircrews under the command of a multinational military structure - the Heavy Airlift Wing (HAW). The Commander of the HAW is a US Air Force officer and his Deputy Commander is a Swedish Air Force officer. The HAW will be manned by personnel from all participating nations.
This is one of three complementary initiatives aimed at providing NATO nations with strategic airlift capabilities. A second initiative is the Strategic Airlift Interim Solution (SALIS), under which a multinational consortium of 18 countries has contracted a civilian company for the charter of Antonov An-124-100 transport aircraft. And lastly there are national procurement programmes in place. Seven NATO nations are acquiring A400M aircraft, while three NATO nations (Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States) have purchased C-17s for national use.
The C-17 is a large strategic transport aircraft capable of carrying 77 000 kilograms of cargo over 2400 nautical miles (4450 kilometers) and which is able to operate in difficult environments.
The planes will be configured and equipped to the same general standard as C-17s operated by the US Air Force, the UK Royal Air Force and the Canadian Air Force. The crews and maintenance personnel will come from the participating countries and be trained for mission profiles and standards agreed by the countries.
These strategic lift aircraft are to be used to meet national requirements, but could also be allocated for NATO, UN or EU missions, or for other international purposes (e.g. humanitarian airlift and disaster relief) as agreed by the nations.
Following intense consultations, a Letter of Intent (LOI) to launch contract negotiations was publicly released by 13 NATO countries on 12 September 2006. In the intervening period, two Partners joined the consortium and NATO participation has evolved to the current ten members.
On 20 June 2007, the North Atlantic Council approved the Charter of a NATO Production and Logistics Organisation (NPLO), which authorizes the establishment of the NATO Airlift Management Organisation (NAMO). The Charter came into effect upon signature to the MOU and notification to the North Atlantic Council, which took place at the end of September 2008. The NAMO Agency will acquire, maintain and support the airlift assets on behalf of the SAC participating nations.
The participants include ten NATO nations (Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the United States) and two Partnership for Peace (PfP) nations (Finland and Sweden).
Membership in the airlift fleet remains open to other countries upon agreement by the consortium members.
