Air crews from NATO Allies Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia conducted air drills with their C-27J Spartan transport aircraft at the Romania Air Base to increase interoperability among European countries flying this military aircraft. Observers from C-27J users Greece, United States and Australia also attended. The deepened cooperation and capabilities in this field will also benefit NATO air operations.

Prepared by the European Defence Agency and hosted by the Romanian Air Force the exercise aims at promoting aircraft user type approaches to harmonise tactics, techniques and procedures as well as to develop more cost-effective solutions to operate and sustain the C27J. Academic and flying training was offered to air crews while ground crews were engaged in developing synchronised and coordinated procedures which will eventually allow them to perform cross-maintenance on each other’s aircraft.

During flying training the participating Spartans conducted landing on soil and short-distance tracks, parachuting personnel and materiel, cooperation with combat aircraft, coordination with land forces and medical evacuation.

The C-27J Spartan aircraft is designed to perform tactical missions in peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, providing direct air transport to the theatre, day and night. The European Defence Agency’s goal is to increase the provision of airlift, develop concrete solutions to boost the efficiency of existing and future fleets and to optimise the use of air transport organisations and structures.