Strategic Airlift Capability

The three Strategic Airlift Capability Boeing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft are owned by the 12 SAC member nations. They are registered and flagged in the program host nation Hungary bearing the name of the SAC home base, HDF Pápa Air Base, on their tails.
Col. John Zazworsky addresses the audience after officially receiving the first of three C-17 Globemaster IIIs to be acquired by the 12-nation Strategic Airlift Capability Program on 14 July 2009 at Long Beach, California, United States

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.

  1. ^ "Strategic Airlift Capability". www.sacprogram.org. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015.
  2. ^ "SAC Governance". www.sacprogram.org. Archived from the original on 21 August 2021.