European Air Chiefs hold virtual meeting.

This week, General Aviator Thierry Dupont, chief of the Belgian Air Component, chaired a meeting with the seven partner countries of the European Air Group (EAG). Due to Europe-wide restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, this meeting between the Air Chiefs was held via VideoTeleConferencing. W / O Jozef Vanden Broeck, Belgian Air Force, reports.

Follow Air Recognition on Google News at this link

General Aviator Thierry Dupont, chief of the Belgian Air Component, chaired a meeting with the seven partner countries of the European Air Group (EAG). Due to Europe-wide restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, this meeting between the Air Chiefs was held via VideoTeleConferencing (Picture source: Belgian Air Force)

The European Air Group (EAG), made up of the air forces of seven European countries, namely Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom, aims to improve operational capacity and efficiency between participating countries, through intensive tactical and operational cooperation. The usefulness of the EAG has been proven repeatedly over the past two decades in international exercises and operations. In addition, the EAG is the basis for the creation of the European Air Transport Command (EATC) at Eindhoven air base in the Netherlands and the European Personnel Recovery Center (EPRC) at the air base of Poggio Renatico in Italy.

The EAG headquarters is located at RAF High Wycombe Air Base in England, where a permanent staff (EAGPS) works, which receives instructions annually from the European Air Group Steering Group (EAGSG) made up of the commanders of the seven forces. participating airlines. In addition to these two bodies, the EAG also includes a working group (EAGWG), made up of a representative from each member country, which meets twice a year and a “One Star” contact point in each air force.

Due to Europe-wide restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, this meeting between the seven Air Chiefs was held via VideoTeleConferencing (Picture source: Screenshot)

The EAGSG holds a general assembly once a year to provide guidance to permanent staff and to discuss the progress of ongoing projects. The collaboration is mainly in the field of air operations, Force Protection, logistics and CIS/Cyber to improve operational capabilities. The 2020 executive committee could not take place this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the Air Chiefs decided to hold a virtual meeting.

Despite the enormous impact of the corona crisis on the implementation of the many planned international exercises, the Executive Committee noted that significant progress has been made in the various areas of work. For example, the Force Protection Command and Control manual, which will be an important reference document for all partner air forces, has been published.

General Aviator Thierry Dupont, chief of the Belgian Air Component (Picture source: Belgian Air Force)