International Missions

Wherever Austrian soldiers are operating abroad, the can rely on the support of the Austrian Air Force. The largest part of our Forces abroad is deployed to the Kosovo, comprising of course a helicopter element, stationed at the Toplicane Helicopter Base, next to our troops.

The Air Force provides support in the form of long-distance personnel and material transport, even to remote locations, but it can also perform reconnaissance and liaison tasks.

Military Operations: Transportation and Reconnaissance

For the Austrian soldiers deployed to the Chad, the Hercules cargo planes are their "umbilical cord" to the homeland - in fact a rather efficient one, able to carry up to nearly 20 tons per plane and thus to provide our troops operating at a distance of 4,000 km with supplies ranging from bottled water to the Sandivper combat vehicle.

Austrian Air Force elements are not only showing high performance in Africa but also within Europe. Besides their mission in the Kosovo, they were also able to provide relief to the fire disaster of Greece in 2007.

Humanitarian Missions: A Friend in Need

Especially after the purchase of the C-130 Hercules cargo planes, the Austrian Air Force was repeatedly able to contribute to humanitarian missions all over the world. Thus, the "Herkys" were able to bring, within short delay, urgently needed aid supplies to e.g. the Tsunami-shaken region of Eastern Asia or to the Russian town of Beslan, were a school had been the aim of a terrorist attack.