Strategic Military Air Transport Professionals Met in Finland

In mid-April 2024, Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command hosted an operational planning meeting of the Movements Coordination Center Europe (MCCE) in Tampere, Finland.

Movements Coordination Centre Europe is a consortium of 29 NATO and European Union member states. Its mission is to plan and coordinate strategic land, sea and air movements. Finland has been a member of the MCCE, headquartered in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, since its inception in 2007.

The biannual operational planning meeting of MCCE air transport planners took place on 16-18 April in Tampere. The objective of the meeting is to plan and coordinate the future airlift needs of member countries so that existing transport performance capabilities are used efficiently.

The meeting was attended by about 50 air transport professionals from the member countries of the consortium. The meeting was hosted by the Movements Coordination Centre Finland (FINMCC) of the Finnish Defence Forces Logistics Command. FINMCC is responsible for the planning, execution and ordering of the Finnish Defence Forces' transnational strategic transports.

In parallel with the MCCE meeting, the operational planning meetings of two international consortia providing strategic military airlift, the SAC project and the SALIS partnership, were also held in Tampere.

The Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) is a consortium of 12 NATO member states. Since 2009, SAC has operated three Boeing C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft based in Pápa, Hungary. Finland has a 100 flight hours per year share of the transport aircraft capacity, which is used for air transport of the Finnish Defence Forces in support of international operations and crisis management missions.

The Strategic Airlift International Solution (SALIS) partnership also met in Tampere in April. The SALIS project is to provide its member countries and MCCE with the capability of Antonov and Ilyushin heavy-lift transport aircraft from commercial operators based in Europe. The SALIS partner countries are Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States.

For more information:

NATO Strategic Airlift Capabilities SAC and SALIS on the NATO website

Movement Coordination Centre Europe website

Strategic Airlift Capability Project website