The Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) is a multinational initiative that provides its participating nations assured access to military airlift capability to address the growing needs for both strategic airlifts and tactical airlifts.
SAC, established in 2008, is an independent, multinational program that provides the capability of transporting equipment and personnel over long distances to its 12 member nations by owning and operating three Boeing C-17 Globemaster III long range cargo aircraft. The SAC is based at the Hungarian Defence Forces Pápa Air Base in Western Hungary. Each participating nation owns a share of the available flight hours of the SAC C-17's that can be used for missions to serve the needs of their national defense, NATO, EU or UN commitments as well as humanitarian relief efforts.
Hungary plays a special role in the SAC as the host nation. The SAC C-17's are registered and flagged in Hungary bearing the national military aircraft insignia of the nation.
Although the Strategic Airlift Capability relies on certain NATO support structures, it lies outside the command and control of NATO, EU, Partnership for Peace, UN or any other organization that SAC members belong to.[1] The governance of the Strategic Airlift Capability is organized through two cooperating structures, the SAC Steering Board with support by NATO's Airlift Management (NAM) Programme Board.[2] The operational organization of SAC, the Heavy Airlift Wing (HAW), is a multinational force, commanded by a colonel of a member nation.