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Pan-African air mobility unit plans developed

Airmen from the U.S. and various African nations discuss proposal plans during the Air Transport Sharing Mechanism capstone in Kasane, Botswana, Aug. 23, 2022. The working group discussed the creation of the African Air Mobility Coordination Center to enhance the African Union’s strategic lift capability.

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Photo by: Tech. Sgt. Anthony Hetlage 

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Pan-African air mobility unit plans developed

Tunisian air force Col. Kais Sghaier, 11th Air Unit commander, briefs liaison officers about the Air Transport Sharing Mechanism during the Association of African Air Forces’ 2022 LNO Working Group in Kasane, Botswana, Aug. 25, 2022. The ATSM goal is to enhance the African Union’s strategic lift capability.

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Photo by: Tech. Sgt. Anthony Hetlage 

The Air Transport Sharing Mechanism capstone, designed to enhance the African Union's airlift capability, was held during the 5th Liaison Officer Working Group hosted by U.S. Air Forces Africa and Botswana Defence Force in Kasane, Botswana, Aug. 22-26, 2022.

“The ATSM aims to create a dependable, organized, readily-available, effective and efficient air transport operations system on the continent to carry persons and cargo in support of common national and regional peace and security requirements,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. James Johnson, USAFE-AFAFRICA southern Africa regional desk officer.

The ATSM goal is to enhance the African Union’s strategic lift capability to include medical evacuation, non-combatant evacuation, and humanitarian action and natural disaster support through the Africa Air Mobility Command Center, a multi-national African airlift unit under the authority of the African Union.

“The role of this Pan-African unit is to provide air mobility in support of peace and security operations and through the support of all African nations contributing to this unit whether through personnel or any other logistic support,” said Tunisian Air Force Col. Kais Sghaier, 11th Air Unit commander.

Topics discussed during the working group included qualifications of the unit’s commander and personnel requirements.

“We need to come up with mechanisms of optimizing the use of the very limited resources available to us, hence the expectation is that Airlift Resource Sharing is one of the topical issues for this conference,” said Botswana Defence Force Brigadier Collen Mastercee Maruping, acting deputy air arm commander.

Each nation’s representative will discuss the working group’s ideas and plans with their nation’s leadership.

“I think it’s every African’s dream to see an African airplane with all African flags across its tail, flying across the continent providing relief and support to Africans,” said Sghaier.

Further proposals for the AAMCC’s location and other qualifications will be discussed during the 12th annual African Air Chiefs Symposium scheduled to be held in Senegal in 2023.

This was the ATSM’s first in-person conference between African nations with the previous nine meetings conducted virtually.