Training personnel recovery during APROC
From 23 May until 6 June 2018 Gilze-Rijen AB was home of the Air-centric Personnel Recovery Operatives Course (APROC), which brought aircraft and helicopters from seven other countries to Gilze-Rijen AB.
EPRC
The European Personnel Recovery Centre (EPRC) was founded in 2005. Their main mission is to improve the four phases of Personnel Recovery (Preparation, Planning, Execution and Adaptation). Their motto is “That others may live”. The EPRC requires a system to recover both military and civilian personnel that have become isolated. The EPRC consist of seven member states; Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The partner nations are Canada, Hungary, Poland, Sweden and the USA.
refuel the F-16s during their flight from the U.S. were stationed at Pardubice Air Base, less than 40
APROC
APROC is an exercise which is yearly held in one of the member countries. The exercise is used to train and qualify crews in personnel recovery, the rescue and recovery of military staff and civilians in hostile and non-permissive environments. After the academic course the participants flew three missions a day, using 9 different training areas (3 in Belgium and 6 in The Netherlands).
Participating helicopters
France: AS555 Fennec (Air Force) and NH90-NFH (Navy)
Italy: HH-101A Caesar (Air Force) and EH.101 (Navy)
Netherlands: CH-47 Chinook, AS-532 Cougar and AH-64 Apache
Poland: Mi-24 Hind
Spain: AS-332B Super Puma
Sweden: UH-60 Blackhawk
United Kingdom: Merlin HC.3 (Navy)