Colonel Rombouts Assumed the Command of the Heavy Airlift Wing

Brigadier General Thomas J. Sharpy, the Chairman of the Strategic Airlift Capability Steering

Board, symbolizing the assumption of command of the multinational airlift wing.

The ceremony was attended by approximately 300 guests representing the SAC steering

board, the embassies of the 12 SAC nations and the other organizations affiliated with the

program.

Colonel Frank Rombouts has been serving with the Heavy Airlift Wing since March 2011,

first as the Vice Commander of the HAW and since February 2013 as the acting Wing

Commander. Colonel Rombouts is the third commander in the history of the wing since its

start of operations in 2009 and the first European officer in this position. In his Assumption

of Command speech Colonel Rombouts highlighted the achievements of the wing and also its

future goals.

During its first four years of operations Strategic Airlift Capability program and its

operational arm Heavy Airlift Wing have reached significant milestones by turning the idea

of sharing and operating the fleet of three Boeing C-17 Globemaster IIIs as a consortium of

12 nations into reality. A clear show of its performance is the fact that the wing C-17 fleet has

reached over 10,000 flight hours and has declared Full Operational Capability (FOC).

According to Colonel Rombouts, the next goal of the wing is to take is capabilities a step

further. “The HAW achieved Full Operational Capability in November 2012, which means

we have the ability to carry out the set of various airlift missions. Among other things

we can do single ship airdrop, cooperate with air tankers and do operations with Night

Vision Goggles. However there are still limitations to our capability in the most demanding

operational scenarios", Rombouts said.

In his address to the wing and the SAC community Colonel Rombouts set also another key

target for the wing. “It can be described with one word: Sustainability. We’ll need to make

sure that the HAW is an attractive place to serve, meaning that the conditions for the wing

members and their families in Pápa are constantly improved. The community of the Pápa

region is doing a brilliant work with this and it needs to go on. Also the culture of the wing

is something we all need to build together and the legal status of the wing as a military unit

needs to be reinforced."

Photo: HAW/Ville Tuokko