Boeing C-17 Globemaster III (8130940943)

The Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) is a multinational initiative that provides its participating nations assured access to military airlift capability to address the growing needs for both

strategic airlift An airlift is the organized delivery of supplies or personnel primarily via military transport aircraft. Airlifting consists of two distinct types: strategic and tactical. Typically, strategic airlifting involves moving material long distance ...

s and

tactical airlift An airlift is the organized delivery of supplies or personnel primarily via military transport aircraft. Airlifting consists of two distinct types: strategic and tactical. Typically, strategic airlifting involves moving material long distance ...

s. SAC, established in 2008, is an independent, multinational program that provides the capability of transporting equipment and personnel over long distances to its 12 member nations by owning and operating three

Boeing C-17 Globemaster III The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of tw ...

long range cargo aircraft. The SAC is based at the

Hungarian Defence Forces The Hungarian Defence Forces ( hu, Magyar Honvédség) is the national armed forces, defence force of Hungary. Since 2007, the Hungarian Armed Forces is under a unified command structure. The Ministry of Defence maintains the political and civil ...

Pápa Air Base Pápa Air Base is a military airbase located near Pápa, Hungary. The building of the airport started in 1936. The Hungarian Air Force has three active air bases, and is the only active air base in western Hungary. During World War II, several Ge ...

in Western

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

. Each participating nation owns a share of the available flight hours of the SAC C-17's that can be used for missions to serve the needs of their national defense,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, EU or UN commitments as well as humanitarian relief efforts.

plays a special role in the SAC as the host nation. The SAC C-17's are registered and flagged in

bearing the national military aircraft insignia of the nation. Although the Strategic Airlift Capability relies on certain NATO support structures, it lies outside the command and control of

, EU,

Partnership for Peace The Partnership for Peace (PfP; french: Partenariat pour la paix) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust between the member states of NATO and other states mostly in Europe, including post-Soviet states; ...

, UN or any other organization that SAC members belong to. The governance of the Strategic Airlift Capability is organized through two cooperating structures, the SAC Steering Board with support by NATO's Airlift Management (NAM) Programme Board. The operational organization of SAC, the

Heavy Airlift Wing The Heavy Airlift Wing (HAW) is an international military airlift organization based at Pápa Air Base, Hungary. The organization consists of several European states and the United States. It was officially activated on 27 July 2009 as part of ...

(HAW), is a multinational force, commanded by a colonel of a member nation.

History

The Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) concept originated at NATO HQ in mid-2006. NATO officials and national representatives envisaged a partnered solution that would satisfy a need for strategic airlift for member states without the economic resources to field a permanent capability. Originally this idea was called the NATO Strategic Airlift Capability (NSAC). In October 2006 the first non-NATO nation joined the initiative and the concept changed its name to the SAC and moved outside the Alliance. On 23 September 2008 the 12 nations established the Strategic Airlift Capability by signing the SAC memorandum of understanding. On 14 July 2009, Strategic Airlift Capability received its first C-17 aircraft, bearing the registration SAC 01. The remaining two aircraft, SAC 02 and 03, were delivered in the following months and operations with the

started immediately thereafter at

. In November 2012 the

achieved Full Operational Capability (FOC). The unit was then considered fully capable of missions containing air refueling, single ship airdrop, assault landings, all-weather operations day or night into low-to-medium-threat environments, limited aeromedical evacuation operations and utilizing C-17 air-land and air-drop mission capabilities.

Membership

Member states are

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

, Lithuania, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

, Sweden and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Most of these are NATO member states with the exception of

countries Sweden and Finland. The governing body of the program is the Strategic Airlift Capability Steering Board, supported by the NATO Airlift Management Programme Board that consists of representatives of the member nations. The SAC Steering Board exercises overall responsibility for the guidance, execution and oversight of the Strategic Airlift Capability in accordance with the SAC memorandum of understanding. It formulates SAC requirements and communicates them to the NAM Programme Board for execution. The Strategic Airlift Capability has a lifespan of a minimum of 30 years and its member nations have committed to constant development of the program and its capabilities. The aircraft and supporting equipment operated by the

are owned by the SAC Nations collectively. The NATO Airlift Management Programme Office (NAM PO), an integral part of

NATO Support and Procurement Agency The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (french: L'Agence OTAN de soutien et d'acquisition ), abbreviated to NSPA, is the main logistics and procurement agency of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and is the executive branch of the ''N ...

(NSPA), processes the acquisition and maintenance of the SAC C-17 weapon system. It also provides site and administration support to the HAW.

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

, the manufacturer of the C-17, is responsible for contract flight line maintenance; engineering and technical support; and management and supply of spare parts. The C-17 aircraft and their support were acquired from

under the

Foreign Military Sales The United States Department of Defense's Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program facilitates sales of U.S. arms, defense equipment, defense services, and military training to foreign governments. The purchaser does not deal directly with the defense ...

(FMS) program of the

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

Operations

The first aircraft was delivered on 14 July 2009.Boeing Delivers 12-Nation Strategic Airlift Capability’s 1st C-17 Globemaster III
/ref> The C-17 Globemasters are based at

."Military Aircraft Serial Review", On Dutch Wings, ''

Military Aircraft Serial Review A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

'', 2008. A unique feature of the SAC program is its aviation safety certification system. This system called the Concept of Total Aviation Safety (CONTAS) is based upon a heavily adapted version of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army S ...

C-17 safety system, the principles of design and operation of heavy airlift aircraft as described by the

European Aviation Safety Agency The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitori ...

(EASA), and the mandatory requirements of the Hungarian National Transport Authority who are the national authority that registers the aircraft and certifies the operations of the HAW, and the support provided by NAM PO. This system has been accepted by all the SAC nations and as such is one of the World's first true multi-national military aviation safety systems.

Deployments

The HAW aircraft can respond to a wide selection of airlift needs by member countries. The operations can include national support to EU / NATO / UN operations or national military, peacekeeping and humanitarian relief operations wherever and whenever needed by the partner nations. Since 2009 the Strategic Airlift Capability has supported a variety of operations at its 12 member nations' requests including the

International Security Assistance Force The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386, Resolution 1386 pursua ...

2009–2014, and the

Resolute Support Mission Resolute Support Mission (RSM) or Operation Resolute Support was a NATO-led multinational mission in Afghanistan. It began on 1 January 2015 as the successor to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was completed on 28 Dec ...

, RSM, 2015 – in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

Operation Unified Protector Operation Unified Protector was a NATO operation in 2011 enforcing United Nations Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973 concerning the Libyan Civil War and adopted on 26 February and 17 March 2011, respectively. These resolutions imposed s ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...

, 2011.

United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (, MINUSMA) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali. MINUSMA was established on 25 April 2013 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2100 to stabilise ...

, 2013-. The

EUFOR RCA European Union Force RCA, commonly referred as EUFOR RCA, is the United Nations-mandated European Union peacekeeping mission in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic. The goal of the mission is to stabilize the area after more than a ...

, 2014–2015. The

United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (also called MINUSCA, which is an initialism of its French name Mission multidimensionnelle intégrée des Nations unies pour la stabilisation en C ...

, 2015-. In addition to these operations, significant humanitarian operations supported include earthquake relief in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

, 2010, flood relief in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, 2010, and hurricane relief to the island of

St. Maarten Sint Maarten () is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of , it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the north ...

, 2017. Strategic Airlift Capability has also participated in the logistics support provided to the investigation of the 2014

Malaysia Airlines MH17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian forces on 17 July 2014, while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed. Cont ...

crash in Ukraine. In 2015, a Strategic Airlift Capability C-17 transported patients with severe burn injuries from Bucharest to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

following the

Colectiv nightclub fire The Colectiv nightclub fire was a deadly fire in Bucharest, Romania, on 30 October 2015, which killed 64 people (26 on site, 38 in hospitals) and injured 146. The fire, which was the deadliest fire in the country's history, occurred during a free ...

. As of December 2016, the Strategic Airlift Capability C-17 fleet has achieved over 21,000 flying hours, flown over 1,700 missions, delivered over 138 million pounds (over 62,000 tons) of cargo and carried almost 100,000 passengers. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

in 2020, the Strategic Airlift Capability conducted Emergency Response Missions to Romania, The Netherlands, Bulgaria, and Hungary delivering medical equipment. The SAC transported about 250 tons of equipment from the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The te ...

. At least one Strategic Airlift Capability C-17 was used in the August 2021 evacuation of Kabul. Nearly 3,000 civilians were evacuated from

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Ac ...

in 12 missions for two weeks.

History

Membership

Operations

Deployments

Fleet

References

See also