EATC will support ETAC with airlift training
The new European Tactical Airlift Centre (ETAC) was officially opened on 8 June 2017 in Zaragoza, Spain. The ETAC is a permanent multinational training centre executing the European Tactical Airlift Programme (ETAP).
The ceremony gathered high level representatives from EDA, host nation and EU member nations. EATC 
was represented by the commander, Major General Chris Badia. To Major General Badia, the opening of ETAC marks a milestone in the military air transport in Europe. Common training and operations are the key to success for our nations.
“EATC will support ETAC with all its manpower and all its brain power.’’
Major General Chris Badia, Commander EATC
EATC is supporting ETAC with personnel, for example with a course director and a training supervisor. EATC also provides training syllabi, certifies courses and supervises the consistency of airlift training.
All seven EATC member nations are also members of ETAC. Both institutions will work closely together in order to offer efficient and tailored airlift training in Europe. The next ETAC training event will take place in Beja (Portugal) in June 2017 (ETAP-T 2017). ETAP-T (formerly EATT) is a tactical training tailored to train European tactical airlift crews.
Other yearly EATC supported events are:
- ETAP-C (formerly EAATTC) is a tactical training course that lifts medium qualified crew members to a full combat ready status. It offers different levels of training, such as “Single Ship”, “Element Lead” or “Night training”.
- ETAP-I (formerly EATIC) is a course that trains instructor pilots.
- ETAP-S (formerly EATS) is a symposium to exchange experience between the different nations.
More information on ETAC:
ETAC is a centre of expertise in the domain of tactical airlift training, composed of 11 nations*. It will execute the European Tactical Airlift Programme (ETAP), which aims to enhance European transport airlift operational capability for crisis management operations through the pooling and sharing of experience, training opportunities and organisational costs. Training will take place in different locations, such as in France, Italy, Bulgaria and Portugal.
ETAC will train to agreed common tactics, techniques and procedures in order to better meet the challenges of flying transport aircraft in the joint and combined modern operational environment.
*Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Norway.
Pictures provided by the European Defence Agency.