Photo By Airman 1st Class Demi M. Ebert | Representatives from 26 African nations attended the Women, Peace and Security Forum...... read more read more
Subscribe
The Association of African Air Forces, U.S. Air Forces Africa and the Zambia Air Force, co-hosted the AAAF Working Group in Lusaka, Zambia, Sept. 16-20, 2024.
Liaison Officers; Senior Enlisted Representatives; Women, Peace and Security Representatives and exercise planning subject matter experts from 26 African air forces and the United States gathered to participate in working groups to further the association’s operational goals.
During his keynote address, Lt. Gen. Oscar M.A. Nyoni, Zambia Air Force commander and AAAF chairman, said AAAF representatives play a pivotal role in the future of air power on the continent.
“Each one of you is laying a strong foundation for our success and I cannot express how proud I am to see such a remarkable assembly of brilliant minds,” said Nyoni. “Together, we are moving in the right direction, and I believe our focus on humanitarian assistance and disaster response will yield actionable strategies that are both realistic and effective.”
The AAAF WG centered around the planning of the 14th iteration of the African Air Chief Symposium in 2025, which will be hosted by the ZAF in Lusaka.
In addition, the working group concentrated on the AAAF exercise series, a tactical means by which the association operationalizes its goals of developing each African air force capacity, capability, and interoperability.
U.S. Air Force Col. Kristin M. Cullinan, AAAF secretary general, said the association is steadily maturing into an African airpower collaborative for safety, peace, and security.
“In the last two years, AAAF has laid the foundation for integration of gender perspectives into peace, security and airpower efforts,” said Cullinan. “Senior Enlisted Representatives have developed noncommissioned officer guidelines which will establish common principles for the professional development of the noncommissioned officer corps.”
To actualize the operationalization of the association, there are plans for a tabletop exercise in 2025 to solidify strategies, followed by a field training exercise in 2026.
These exercises will primarily revolve around discussing and simulating response in a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief scenario.
In the spirit of fostering the bonds of friendship, the ZAF and AAAF delegates also participated in a community engagement held at the Kasisi Children’s Home in Lusaka. During the working group, a donation drive provided essential resources to support the basic needs of the children’s home.
The engagement served as an opportunity to showcase the vital need for African nations to collaborate in a humanitarian assistance capacity as a core driver for the need to operationalize the AAAF.
The path to operationalization requires addressing the unique challenges of operating within the African continent, but other organizations can serve as an example for multinational cooperation to address HA/DR, said Alberto Moreno-Bonet, executive director of the System of Cooperation Among the American Air Force.
The apolitical institution was established in 1961, and currently has 23 member nations with a purpose to be an efficient organization in cooperation and mutual support between the American Air Forces and their equivalents.
During the WG, both AAAF and SICOFFA shared best practices on using air assets for emergency response.
“SICOFAA's success in HA/DR efforts in the Americas is serving as a model for AAAF to enhance Africa’s disaster response capabilities,” said Moreno. “AAAF can adopt similar standardization frameworks to ensure that African air forces, which also vary greatly in terms of language, equipment, and military traditions, can work more seamlessly together.”
Composed of three working groups, LNOs, WPSRs, and SERs focused on specific objectives to advance the goals outlined in the previous symposium.
One of the tasks designated to the LNOs was to continue the development of the exercise series conceptualized at AACS 2024.
The AAAF WG served as a midterm planning conference for LNOs to finalize logistical and administrative details, such as the scenario, scope and objectives to lay the foundation for the next step in the exercise series.
“We’re trying to come up with realistic and actionable solutions; we are fostering bonds of camaraderie, this is the beginning of the operationalization goal, planning this exercise,” said Col. Patrick Akono, Cameroon Air Force AAAF LNO.
During the working group, WPSRs developed foundational principles to socialize gender-perspectives to the forefront of member air forces.
“As a new group, our goal was to develop guidelines, to include a mission and vision statement,” said Maj. Louisa Boakye, Ghana Air Force WPS representative. “We have shared ideas and we have something concrete to work with as a group, at least to start with. I would consider it very successful.”
Senior enlisted representatives from AAAF worked towards finalizing a set of NCO guidelines to enhance interoperability between member nation forces.
“As the Association of African Air Forces comes together and works towards operationalization it will provide commanders with a solid core of what NCOs are expected to do across the association,” said U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Jason C. Logan, 406th Air Expeditionary Wing command chief. “It’s going to let commanders know that when this multinational force comes together to get after something like humanitarian assistance and disaster response, they know the capabilities that are being provided.”
The AAAF is a voluntary organization focused on collaborative, multilateral engagements to promote African-led air power solutions among 29 African member nations in collaboration with the USAF.
The AAAF was conceptualized during AACS in 2014 and was established in 2015 when three African partner nations – Mauritania, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal – along with the U.S., signed the AAAF Charter.
| Date Taken: | 09.16.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.25.2024 17:39 |
| Story ID: | 481781 |
| Location: | LUSAKA, ZM |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Association of African Air Forces advances HA/DR exercise development, by 1st Lt. Mary Andom, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
