Strategic Airlift International Solution
The Strategic Airlift International Solution ( SALIS ; in German international solution for strategic air transport ; until 2016: Strategic Airlift Interim Solution , in German intermediate solution for strategic air transport ) is a joint program of European NATO and EU countries, the Russian and Ukrainian air freight companies commissioned with military strategic air transport tasks for worldwide peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. For this purpose, the Russian Volga-Dnepr Airlines and the Ukrainian Antonov Airlines have been providing up to six large transport aircraft, mainly of the Antonov An-124 type, at Leipzig / Halle Airport since 2006 . Until 2016, this was done through the joint venture Ruslan SALIS GmbH, and since 2017 through separate contracts. Volga-Dnepr Airlines, the largest civilian operator of the An-124, has announced its withdrawal from the program in late 2018.
Problem Description
During the Cold War, there was little need for strategic air transport in Europe. The corresponding transport capacities on the NATO side were concentrated in the US armed forces. In the 1990s, the situation changed with the increasing turn to mobile troop units for crisis management and humanitarian tasks, such as crisis reaction forces or the NATO response force . A European deficit in strategic air transport became apparent, for example, in 1998/1999 during the intervention in the Kosovo war , where even for intra-European operations there was a high dependency on US transport aircraft.
The delivery and commissioning of the European military transport aircraft Airbus A400M, which was planned to replace smaller, tactical transport aircraft, but at the same time to alleviate the bottlenecks in strategic transport, was only planned for the years from 2010 as of 2003 and was later delayed further. Corresponding military air transport capacities were therefore not yet available, but are required regularly or at short notice for global missions (e.g. Congo , Afghanistan ). The maximum transport weight (payload) of the A400M is 37 t in total or 31.5 t for individual loads. In addition, air transport capacities are required for oversized and / or oversized cargo, which exceed the capabilities of the A400M. These are only generally available on the world market, but are temporarily booked out, overpriced or not usable in crisis areas. Freight versions of civil airliners are often unsuitable for use in immediate crisis regions because they place great demands on the airport infrastructure and can only be loaded and unloaded with heavy equipment. The low-lying cargo hold of special military transporters such as A400M, An-124, Boeing C-17 or Lockheed C-5 , on the other hand, can be driven directly from the ground via an integrated ramp, and the machines are able to operate on relatively short and unpaved runways.
Program implementation
Commissioned by the participating states, the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA) concluded a contract with Ruslan SALIS GmbH, Leipzig, which came into force in January 2006. It contained the regulations for a long-term charter of strategic air transport capacities until 2012 with Ruslan SALIS GmbH. In accordance with the contract, it has been stationing two An-124-100 transport aircraft with a maximum payload of 120 t at Leipzig / Halle Airport since March 23, 2006 and will provide four more aircraft within nine days. The An-124 were brought in by the shareholders of Ruslan SALIS GmbH, Volga-Dnepr Airlines (Russia) and Antonov Airlines (Ukraine). NAMSA is responsible for the contractual processing of SALIS flights.
The two An-124s had to provide 4800 flight hours a year. Regardless of the actual use, the first 2,000 flight hours (“fully financed”) were to be paid for 100% and for the further 2,800 flight hours (“partially financed”) 40% of the agreed flight hour cost rate. After all fully financed flight hours had been used, the payments for the remaining 60% of the cost rate were due when using the partially financed flight hours. In addition, the expenses for kerosene had to be reimbursed after the flight had taken place.
Germany initially took on a quota of 750 fully and 1045 partially financed flight hours and had to pay around 20 million euros for this; the rest was shared by the other participating states. Without this high German share, the minimum purchase of 4800 flight hours would not have been possible and the program would have failed. The German flight hours quota exceeded the personal requirements, so that in some years payments of up to 5 million euros could not be used. When there was a greater need for other contract participants, a corresponding number of flight hours were always given to them. Therefore there was no incentive for these nations to take on a contractually higher flight hour contingent. Further flight hours were donated to third parties such as the United Nations (UN) (Congo mission) or the Foreign Office . The offsetting of flight hours given was based on the nominal flight hour cost rate, so that further reserve and all interest costs remained at the expense of the German defense budget.
In the Bundeswehr , the logistics center of the Bundeswehr Wilhelmshaven coordinates the transport space. The contractually provided options for returning flight hours to Ruslan SALIS GmbH during the year have not been exhausted.
The Federal Audit Office certified the SALIS solution to be highly cost-effective.
At the beginning of 2012, the Federal Police took up talks with the SALIS company in order to also use the capabilities of the An-124 for worldwide operations at short notice.
The previous contracts expired at the end of 2016. New contracts, valid from 2017-2018, were concluded separately with Russian and Ukrainian providers due to the changed political situation. While the Ukrainians tried to take over the entire contingent of flight hours, the Russian providers made a cheaper offer and received the larger share of the order through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). Due to the long-term planned use, the project name was changed from Strategic Airlift Interim Solution to Strategic Airlift International Solution .
In April 2018, the Russian partner Volga-Dnieper announced that it would terminate the contract after it expired at the end of the year and not extend it as provided for in a contract option.
States involved
The following NATO countries have joined forces under SALIS:
The following countries that are not members of NATO also participate:
additional
Individual evidence
- ↑ John Leithäuser: NATO partners face massive transportation problems , FAZ.net , April 20, 2018 accessed on 27 April 2020th
- ↑ Constanze Stelzenmueller: The Luftikus. In: The time . June 21, 2001. Retrieved April 10, 2017 .
- ↑ Green light for Airbus A400M. In: n-tv.de . May 21, 2003. Retrieved April 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Dt. Bundestag printed matter 16/2907, from October 11, 2006 ( PDF )
- ↑ Der Spiegel, September 4, 2006
- ↑ Tasks of the Air Transport Department
- ↑ SALIS contract, chap. 1
- ^ NAMSA, Operational Logistics Conference, 5./6. November 2008, Brussels
- ↑ Joachim Hofbauer: SALIS - transitional model or permanent solution? In: Hardthöhenkurier . No. 3/2006 .
- ↑ Will GSG 9 soon be launched from Leipzig / Halle? - Central German edition 2012
- ^ Stephan Wallace: New Strategic Airlift Agreements with Russia and Ukraine. The American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, January 12, 2017, accessed April 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Gag contracts in the sky. ( Memento from December 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Christian Thiels, Tagesschau.de from December 14, 2017.
- ↑ Heiner Siegmund: Volga-Dnepr Steps Out of SALIS. In: Cargoforwarder Global. April 15, 2018, accessed April 21, 2018 .
- ↑ Russia stops delivery: NATO no longer receives an Antonov 124. In: n-tv.de. April 18, 2018. Retrieved April 19, 2018 .
- ^ NATO: Strategic Airlift Interim Solution (SALIS). Retrieved April 13, 2011 .