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European partnership flight visits Spangdahlem AB

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Preston Cherry
  • 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs

Approximately 28 delegates from European air forces toured various facilities at the 52nd Maintenance Group and 52nd Logistics Readiness Squadron during a European partnership flight visit to Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, June 19.

The visit, which happened during an African-European Partnership Flight program at Ramstein AB, was a multilateral, military-to-military engagement and security cooperation event focused on sharing best practices.

“The Europeans are coming here because they are interested in the fighter aircraft and that is why we chose to visit here,” said Noel Fachi, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa theater security cooperation program manager. “We wanted to show them how we develop our Airmen that work on those aircraft and how maintenance and logistics are all centered on that system.”

African partner nations stayed back at Ramstein AB to tour and focus their attention on logistics and maintenance dealing with the mission of transportation and mobility.

European nations that visited included Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria and Croatia and were shown demonstrations and given suggestions to enhance their own capabilities. They were able to interact with personnel and discuss objectives that could be shared across multiple air forces.

“It has been a great tour so far because you manage to see bits and pieces of the overall system and hopefully, by the end of the day, when we see the other pieces, we will be able to build something with these little bricks,” said Croatian air force Lt. Col. Hrvoje Tomsic defense planning officer.

The program is intended to strengthen U.S. strategic partnerships with key countries, share ideas on professional military development and enhance regional cooperation and interoperability.

“It’s an exciting program,” Fachi said. “It benefits both ways. We’re not just trying to tell them how to do things, we are also learning because we work in the same environment. It’s a benefit to the U.S. and it’s a benefit for the partner nations.”