- Air Force
- International cooperation
Strategic Airlift Interim Solution
In March 2006, the Strategic Airlift Interim Solution (SALIS) was put into operation. SALIS is a contract between 18 NATO and EU nations on the one hand and a company named Ruslan-Salis GmbH, guaranteeing the provision of strategic airlift up to the year 2012, through the chartering of Antonov AN-124 aircraft.
Both within NATO and the European Union there is a shortfall of large military air transport for humanitarian and crisis response operations.
The SALIS contract provides two Antonov An-124-100 aircraft on full-time charter, two more on six days’ notice and another two on nine days’ notice. The Antonov is the largest ‘outsize’ (i.e. capable of carrying unusually large cargoes) transport aircraft in the world.
The contract has also been signed by Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The deployment of these aircraft is coordinated at the Movement Coordination Centre Europe (MCCE) at Eindhoven Air Base.
Social Media