HAW mission growing, aids international relief support Published Feb. 9, 2010 By Capt. Juha Miettinen Multinational Strategic Airlift Capability Heavy Airlift Wing Public Affairs PAPA AIR BASE, Hungary (AFNS) -- Members of the Multinational Strategic Airlift Capability Heavy Airlift Wing conducted their third humanitarian relief mission Feb. 2, from Papa to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The mission was flown at the request of the government of Sweden and included supplies donated by Bulgaria. The Bulgarian relief supplies were transported by the Bulgarian air force to Papa AB, then prepared for onward movement to combine with cargo being assembled in Sweden. Only the host nation of Hungary has moved cargo directly out of Papa AB before, so the cargo transfer made this the first true cargo hub operation of the SAC HAW program. "On a wider scale this is a small event, but for SAC this is an important milestone," said Col. John Zazworsky, the commander of the HAW and pilot in command of the mission. "It is a step toward where we want to be in the future: conducting airlift in the most efficient way possible for partner nations." "Papa AB has great potential to become a big cargo hub, where the participating nations of the SAC program will deliver and store material to be further delivered by the HAW to their final destinations all over the world," Colonel Zazworsky said. The SAC HAW's first load of relief supplies was delivered to Haiti Jan. 18. The flight delivered aid workers from Sweden and equipment from Estonia, Finland, Denmark and Norway. The wing delivered a second load of supplies Jan. 21. The multinational SAC consortium was launched three years ago in order to acquire three C-17 Globemaster III planes to meet strategic airlift requirements of participating nations for national missions including missions in support of NATO, the European Union and the United Nations. The first SAC C-17 was delivered to Papa AB in July 2009 and the second C-17 arrived in September and a third in October. Ten NATO nations participate in the SAC HAW, including, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the United States, along with Partnership for Peace nations Finland and Sweden.