Right now the Dutch Armed Forces run a huge military exercise called "Varpalota Challenge 2014" in Hungary – with more than 2.600 Dutch military personnel participating.
For the deployment the DVVO (Dutch Movement and Transportation Coordination Centre) had to choose the most appropriate mode of transport: After selecting the air transport-way (AT) to carry passengers and high value cargo, it appears obvious and cost effective to rely on EATC planning for the upcoming deployments.
During a planning conference the DVVO exposed to the EATC Long Term Plan Branch - part of the EATC’s Operational Division - the fixed deployment time and destinations. The result is impressive and could be considered to be the biggest air deployment of an exercise ever been planned and conducted by the EATC.
In total more than 40 flights have been planned and shared between EATC Participating Nations: Ten Dutch C-130H/H-30 Hercules and 18 KDC-10 flights, six German C-160D Transall and six Airbus A310 missions as well as five French Airbus A340 and one A310 missions are on the scope. During the exercise period EATC expects to move more than 6.000 PAX and 37 tons of cargo as well as 480 paratroopers to be dropped.
Without EATC work this exercise would have caused immense costs by having outsourced the efforts to civilian aircraft. A smart multinational planning, however, allowed the Dutch Forces to perform the deployment whilst using AT-assets from the other EATC Participating Nations: Once more the EATC continues to demonstrate its relevance within the European military AT-landscape.
Words: John van den Born
Pictures: All Participating Nations Air Forces Media
