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A dozen countries to share three C-17s

The C-17 is a lot of plane, too much plane for some small countries — which is why 12 NATO members and two partners are pooling resources to share three of the huge airlifters. After years in the works, the plan, called Strategic Air Capability, is only a few signatures away from reality.

The 12 NATO members involved are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the U.S. Partner countries Sweden and Finland will also participate. Italy and the Czech Republic are still debating whether to sign the memorandum of understanding, but have not opted out formally.

Once all signatures are in place, SAC hopes to have its first aircraft by spring 2009. One C-17 will be contributed by the U.S.; the other two will be purchased by the consortium. All will operate out of Pápa Air Base, Hungary — manned, at least at first, by U.S. airmen.

“Initially, there will only be U.S. personnel manning the C-17s,” U.S. Col. John Zazworsky, commander of the Heavy Airlift Wing at Pápa and C-17 operations for SAC, said in an Air Force statement. “But with training, the countries will be able to use their own pilots and loadmasters. It will take a year-and-a-half to train the country’s crew and for them to be comfortable enough with the C-17 to fly on their own.”

Pilots and loadmasters from the consortium members will receive initial qualification training at Altus Air Force Base, Okla., according Col. Tom Ockenfels, a logistics officer with the U.S. Mission to NATO. Follow-up training will be conducted at first by U.S. instructors assigned to Pápa.

An operations team at the base will coordinate requests for flight hours, factoring in time between scheduled usage for emergencies. Member nations can also trade their flight hours with others in the group. Maintenance costs will be paid out of an operating budget to which all members will contribute at the end of each year according to their requested flying hours.