EATT 2013. Under the planes, mechanics…
(B2 in Zaragoza) If a plane flies, it's because a mechanic has prepared the aircraft, has often bent over his machine with passion
B2 wanted during the EATT exercise to enlighten these men and women who, often discreetly, do a wonderful job. It is also on the ground that the multinational aspect is progressing the most. " Each nation has developed its concepts, its equipment. We have a lot to pool and share. We'll save money and we'll gain efficiency ". summarizes Major Magali Allard, head of maintenance and member of the EATC, whom we meet on the tarmac of Zaragoza airport, in the shadow of the planes....
One stone, two shots
Originally, the EATT exercise was designed primarily to train aircrew to work together. The idea came to kill two birds with one stone. " We proposed to use an opportunity to graft the aircraft mechanics in order to avoid having two different exercises. It's a double benefit. We have training for crews and ground mechanics she explains. " There are few opportunities where they are brought to work together. Goal : this is what I repeated several times to my mechanics, even if they were not mine. There is no right or wrong way to work. You have to find the best. (...) The teams are mixed, made up of Belgians, Czechs, Dutch, Swedish, French, Germans, Italians. It's never the French or the Swedes among themselves. »
Easier for mechanics
« The differences are more inside “of the devices only outside, specifies Lieutenant Nicolas, French engineer officer whom we questioned under the wing of the German C130. " There are certainly cultural differences. But if I take the C-130 for example, it's the same type of plane, the same documentation, so the way of working on the plane is the same. Then there are differences on the equipment that is mounted on board. The objective is to be able to accommodate all types of aircraft ". For example, his French colleague Denis, " is a specialist Hercules mechanic. But that does not prevent him from working on a Belgian, Dutch Hercules, or even the Czech Casa. The interest is to be able to pool skills, to learn ».
Be ready to work together in operations
The goal is to " ensure, for example, that a mechanic on a Belgian C-130 is able to repair a French C-130 confirms General Valentin, commander of the EATC. This responds to concrete cases of recent months, in operation. « When you are going to deploy detachments, for example in Mali. You have about forty means of transport deployed. There are places where you have two nations collocated. Everyone plans as if they were alone (logistics), the stock of spare parts...”. EATT is therefore a first means of responding to these problems. “Everything you do here to ensure that we learn to work together is important. The next time we deploy the Belgians with the French in a theater with C-130s, we will make sure that where we were deploying 20 + 20 people for example, we can deploy only 30 because in certain areas we can share ". " Reduce the logistics footprint is always done with the aim of reducing expenses. When planes are sent in a corner of the world, it costs less if we pool staff, spare parts ».
With the A400M, a new pooling logic
We may soon see a new joint exercise emerge. " With EATC we have projects with the countries, training ground troops, how to repair planes, etc. Projects exist. EATT serves as the ground to start all of this. The arrival of the new Airbus A400M military transport plane could be a way to move towards more cooperation. A new shared logic is being put in place. " With the arrival of the A400M, pilots are training together. Mechanics train together. The school will be in Germany. There will be through training an acculturation explains Lieutenant Josson. The training of ground crews and crews should therefore be more harmonized. It will however be necessary to wait several years, the time that all the armies "touch" their star plane...
