The SAC team of multinational aircrews 👩✈️, command and control experts ☎️, loadmasters 🧳, aerial porters 🚚, Boeing maintenance professionals 👷 conducted the Strategic Airlift Capability's first operational staged operation ever in Otopeni, Romania 🇷🇴 to pull out as much cargo and personnel as possible in a short period of two weeks from Afghanistan.
NATO-led mission 'Resolute Support' in Afghanistan is coming to an end based on the Alliance's decision made in the Spring and troop-withdrawals are taking place quickly.
Since all of the Strategic Airlift Capability Member Nations had a footprint in Afghanistan, a vast amount of their equipment ⚙️ and personnel needed to be withdrawn in a short amount of time from the Middle East country.
This meant flying two of our C-17s ✈️✈️ to Otopeni and establishing an air-bridge 🌉between Bagram, Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif and Romania. On 26 June, SAC-02 was the last cargo mission of the Allied forces leaving Bagram. 🛫🏜️
Within this two-week period the SAC transported for Member Nations Estonia 🇪🇪, Lithuania 🇱🇹, The Netherlands 🇳🇱, Norway 🇳🇴, Poland 🇵🇱, and Romania 🇷🇴, and for Mongolia 🇲🇳 in coordination with Germany and sponsored by Member Nation United States of America 🇺🇸.
While in Otopeni,
🛫 2️⃣ SAC C-17s ✈️✈️ made
🛫 6️⃣6️⃣ sorties 🛬 in
🛫 2️⃣5️⃣ missions 💪
and moved
🛫 5️⃣9️⃣2️⃣ passengers 🧳
🛫 8️⃣8️⃣ pallets 📥
🛫 2️⃣1️⃣ rolling stock 🚂
🛫 more than 3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ ton of cargo 📦
The staged operation was one-of-a-kind in multinational military cooperation 🤝 in the sense that nations' cargo and personnel were combined to maximize airlift capacity and get everything out of Afghanistan as quickly as possible. 💨
#12Nations1Team #StrongerTogether #GetTheForcesOut
