The Air Centric Personnel Recovery Operatives’ Course (APROC) 2021 was successfully completed on 16 June 2021 at the Spanish Airbase of Albacete.
This was the 13th iteration of this series of courses held annually at different locations throughout Europe.
Thanks to the outstanding support provided by HN ESP and the Tactical Leadership Programme (TLP), during the period from 02 to 16 June, around 400 personnel from 8 countries deployed as Training Audience, in Support to the course and as Observers to Albacete Airbase which is the home of the Spanish Air Force Ala 14 and of the TLP.
The risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic were successfully mitigated by the implementation of specific measures and thanks to the very professional behaviour demonstrated by all participants.
For the course, Spain, France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy deployed their PR dedicated/designated assets. Aircraft/Helicopters were HH-101A (ITA), EC-725 (FRA), NH-90 (DEU), SH-60 (ESP), AS-532 (ESP) and AS-332 (ESP) as Recovery Vehicles, F-2000 (ITA and ESP) and EF-18 (ESP) as Fixed Wing RESCORT and AS-555 (FRA) as Rotary Wing RESCORT. Moreover, Extraction Forces teams from ESP, FRA, GBR and ITA also joined the course.
A total of 21 missions in 7 flying days were planned and conducted, resulting in more than 100 sorties and 200 flight hours of the participating 15 aircrafts/helicopters.
APROC, which is a ‘follow on’ course from the Combined Joint Personnel Recovery Standardisation Course and the Combined Joint Combat Search and Rescue Standardisation Course, a series of courses that started in 2007, is currently the only European training opportunity that focuses entirely on Personnel Recovery (PR).
It aims to qualify select personnel as a Rescue Mission Commander (RMC) and to educate and train Aircrews and Extraction Forces in the implementation of internationally agreed Tactics, Techniques and Procedures as a member of a combined and Joint Force contingent using the so called “4T” (Task, Target Threats and Tactics) methodology.
The result of this kind of training is an interoperable force that will be able to provide a viable PR capability for future operations.
As of to date, BEL, FRA, DEU, ITA, HUN, NLD and ESP hosted this course at various locations. The next iteration will be conducted at Solenzara French Airbase in June 2022.
A video with some impressions of APROC 2021 produced in cooperation with CAOC Uedem may be found at this link.