LONDON - The NATO Alliance has pushed a plan to expand its Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) fleet into abeyance due to lack of demand an official noted on September 17. The SAC initiative involves the pooling of flight hours from three Boeing C-17 Globemaster III strategic transport aircraft based at Papa airbase in Hungary. The consortium involved in the initiative consists of 10 Alliance members and two non-Alliance members who are associated with NATO via its Partnership for Peace (PfP) program - Finland and Sweden.
The NATO SAC expansion plan, which was first announced in September 2012, involved acquisitions of C-17s, Airbus A400M Atlas', and possibly Lockheed Martin C-130s. But due to a lack of demand the idea has been shelved. It is believed, however, that the current fleet of three C-17s will continue to be operated at their maximum quota of 3,000 flight hours per year over the remaining 25 years of the 30-year SAC agreement.
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