Air Force personnel from Bulgaria, Italy and Romania along with C27J Spartan aircraft operators are participating in the Balkan Spartan exercise in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Designed by the European Defence Agency (EDA), the exercise is being hosted by the Bulgarian Air Force.
During the flying event, air crews will be offered both academic and flight training in an effort to increase interoperability among European C27J Spartan operators.
The exercise will also see ground crews developing harmonised procedures to eventually allow them to perform cross-maintenance on each other’s aircraft.
Participants also include personnel from Slovakian multinational command and control.
Greece, Lithuania, Australia are the observer nations for the exercise.
According to a statement posted on EDA’s website, the event forms a part of the European Air Transport Fleet (EATF) partnership signed in 2011 by 20 member states.
The EATF partnership aims to increase the efficiency of existing and future fleets and to optimise the use of air transport organisations and structures.
It also focuses on improving the airlift provision within the European Union and to address the way different types of air transport assets are acquired, operated, supported and managed in the most efficient way.
The European Air Transport Training (EATT) and European Advanced Tactics Training Course (EAATC) events, as well as the European Air Transport Symposium are conducted as part of EATF.
Image: An aricraft on the runway at night. Photo: courtesy of European Defence Agency.
