NATO, Azerbaijan assist Qatar Emiri Air Force in evaluating C-130 Hercules interoperability

From June 9 to 13, experts from Allied Air Command Ramstein, Joint Forces Command Naples, NATO and Azerbaijan assisted the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) in evaluating the level of interoperability of a C-130 Air Transport Unit in the framework of Alliance operations.

Two of the unit’s Hercules C-130 transport aircraft had been declared to the NATO pool of forces in 2022 to potentially support Alliance missions as part of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI), the Allied Air Command said in a statement, News.Az reports.

It is noted that the ICI is a partnership framework that aims to contribute to long-term global and regional security by offering non-NATO countries in the broader Middle East region the opportunity to cooperate with NATO.

The evaluation team consisting of 15 Qataris, 15 NATO and three Azerbaijani evaluators provided a challenging scenario testing the unit’s ability to conduct mission under different threat conditions – besides outside temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius.

News.Az