European Defence Agency (EDA) has started the third iteration of helicopter tactics instructor course (HTIC) at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, UK.
HTIC is aimed at offering helicopter instructors with tactical skills and knowledge, tactical training within their own organisations.
In addition, the instructors will be able to offer tactical training throughout the helicopter exercise programme events, such as Italian Blade Exercise and Cold Blade Exercise.
The ongoing instructor course, 2015 HTIC, is being delivered under an EDA Category B programme for the first time. The course has its own approved programme arrangement signed in March by Germany, Sweden and the UK.
More participating member states are expected to join the programme in the near future, EDA stated.
This year, the course is delivered by the EDA Chief Instructor, and a cadre of instructors from Sweden and the UK. It involves 18 trainee instructors from Austria (OH-58), Sweden (UH-60 and NH-90) and the UK (CH-47).
According to EDA, the trainees will be challenged to display high-end performances across the three main strands of the course, which will conclude with the planning and delivery of the complex composite air operations (COMAO).
The ground and simulator phase of HTIC offers a comprehensive introduction to Electronic Warfare and its application for rotary platforms in a hostile environment.
It will also include evasion training against a range of ground and air threats and the tactics applicable to rotary tasking in non-permissive environments.
Over 33 instructors from Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden and the UK have already graduated from courses held in 2013 and 2014.
Image: Helicopter instructors being taught in a classroom. Photo: courtesy of European Defence Agency.
