The European Air Transport Fleet (EATF) partnership, signed by 19 participating Member States (pMS) and Norway, aims at developing concrete solutions to increase the efficiency of all (existing and future) air transport assets, made available by the participating Member States for military needs and optimisation of airlift organisations and structures, through far reaching coordination.
The European Air Transport Fleet Ad Hoc Working Group Tactical Aircraft (EATF AHWG TAT) decided among other things to organize on a yearly basis a European Air Transport (EAT) Symposium in order to identify common issues, problems encountered and lessons identified in recent operations and training missions. The objective is to exchange tactical user’s experience and discuss particular airlift issues. Harmonisation, standardization, interoperability and sharing of competence and best practices are high on the priorities list.
The 2010 symposium was organized by EDA and convened at its premises on 16 December, while the 2011 symposium was hosted by the European Air Transport Command (EATC) in Eindhoven, on 18-19 October. Both were highly appreciated by all the participants.
The EAT 2012 will be hosted by the Czech Republic, in Prague, on 24-25 October 2012. The aircrews and other experts will have the opportunity to exchange views and experiences on the following issues:
- Precision Radio (P-R) NAV.
- Liquid Oxygen (LOX) Transport.
- Disaster Relief/Humanitarian Operations.
- Precision Air Drop (PAD).
- Evacuation Ops (EW, RAVEN, SFO).
- Airworthiness.
The EAT symposium is restricted to air transport aircrews of EU Member States and to representatives of EU Institutions and bodies.
Preliminary programme
24 October 2012: General Presentations (all attendees)
0900 - 0945: Registration
0945 - 0950: Welcome address by CZ Representative
0950 - 1030: Welcome by EAT symposium coordinator - Symposium objectives - Administrative inputs
1030 - 1100: Coffee Break
1100 - 1145: Feedback symposium 2011
1145 - 1230: Precision Radio (P-R) NAV/Q&A
1230 - 1330: Hosted sandwich lunch
1330 - 1415: Liquid Oxygen (LOX) Transport/Q&A
1415 - 1500: Disaster Relief/Humanitarian Operations/Q&A
1500 - 1530: Coffee Break
1530 - 1615: Precision Air Drop (PAD) /Q&A
1615 – 1700: Evacuation Ops (EW, RAVEN, SFO) /Q&A
1700 – 1730: Airworthiness/Q&A
25 October 2012: Syndicates
0830 - 1100: Syndicate discussions (NO Airworthiness syndicate)
1100 - 1130: Coffee Break
1130 - 1230: Wrap up in plenary session
1230 - 1330: Hosted sandwich lunch
Inputs on the agenda are welcome NLT 15 October 2012 to dimitrios.moutsiakis@eda.europa.eu, Cc pascal.july@mil.be.
Topics
- P-R NAV (Precision Radio Navigation)
- LOX (Liquid Oxygen) Transport
- Disaster Relief/Humanitarian Ops
- PAD (Precision Air Drop)
- Evacuation Ops, EW (Electronic Warfare), RAVEN (Force Protection of aircraft), SFO (Special Forces Operations)
- Airworthiness (no syndicate)
Speakers
The following speakers are appointed to provide a briefing:
- P-R NAV BE: MAJ Avi BEECKMANS Bruno
- LOX NL: MAJ Fred ‘Solex’ DRENTH
- Disaster Relief/Humanitarian Ops ES: MAJ (OF3) OSCAR RUIZ GONZALEZ assigned to 31st Transport Wing in Zaragoza AFB.
- PAD FR: Tony GUILLOTEAU and EL: LT (N) Athanasios LOFTALIS, navigator of 356 59 Tactical Transportation with C-130H.
- Evacuation Ops DE: MAJ Thorsten FOGOLIN from GAFCOM A5Ia who was the senior ops officer during "Operation Pegasus" (MIL EVAC OPS Libya).
- Airworthiness MAWA chairman: Mr PLEVKA Jan from EDA.
Syndicate leaders
The following syndicate leaders were appointed to lead the syndicates on day two of the Symposium. Aim of the syndicates is to discuss amongst Subject Matter Experts the topic/presentations of the day prior. It goes without saying that syndicate leaders need to be well prepared to lead such a syndicate.
- P-R NAV (Precision Radio Navigation): BE MAJ Avi Bruno BEECKMANS
- LOX (Liquid Oxygen) Transport: SE Joakim NIELSEN
- Disaster Relief/Humanitarian Ops: ES MAJ (OF3) OSCAR RUIZ GONZALEZ
- PAD (Precision Air Drop): FR Mr Tony GUILLOTEAU
- Evacuation Ops, EW (Electronic Warfare), RAVEN (Force Protection of aircraft), SFO (Special Forces Operations)): EATC LTC Gerd FINCK