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Operational Air Traffic Harmonisation |
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The needs of military aviation and ATM support often reach beyond the scope of civil aviation and are therefore not sufficiently covered by ICAO provisions for
General Air Traffic (GAT). The military therefore often fly as Operational Air Traffic (OAT) which provides the regulatory provisions and ATM arrangements for military training and missions. OAT, however, is regulated on a national basis.
Since the Single European Sky (SES) will harmonise airspace design and arrangements for airspace use at European level, i. a. through the creation of Functional Airspace Blocks (FAB), the European military community must overcome this national fragmentation to be interoperable with the future European ATM Network (EATMN).
DSS/CM has been mandated to harmonise European-level OAT arrangements and is progressing this work via the following three-step approach:
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Harmonisation of OAT Rules |
To accommodate military aviation within the SES environment, relevant national OAT rules need to be harmonised at European level. The Pre-Implementation Edition of the “EUROCONTROL Specification for harmonised rules for Operational Air Traffic (OAT) under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) inside controlled airspace in the ECAC area (EUROAT)” has just been submitted to the States (Ref. Inf./PC/10-21). Since OAT is a matter of national sovereignty, the intended achievement to conduct OAT-IFR in Europe under a single set of rules will depend on the magnitude of national implementation. The aim is to achieve a widespread national implementation across Europe and a resulting entry into force of the EUROAT around 1 October 2011.
The EUROAT is a mandatory regulatory prerequisite for the intended development of the pan-European OAT-IFR Transit Service (OATTS), which is an agreed 2013 baseline for the SESAR ATM Master Plan.
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Pre-Implementation EUROAT |
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Europe-wide OAT-IFR Transit Service (OATTS) Development |
EUROAT serves as a foundation for the further development of the OAT Transit Service (OATTS) which aims to enhance the conduct of military aerial operations and civil-military ATM coordination within the future Single European Sky (SES) environment and with the Functional Airspace Blocks (FAB) which SES will establish. National provisions will be designed to interconnect in order to form a flexible seamless OAT-IFR Transit Service across ECAC airspace.
A functioning OATTS will not only provide adequate routing options for military requirements including contingencies for large scale military operations; it will also offer increased capacities for civil air traffic through improved civil-military coordination and information-sharing arrangements.
The OATTS will connect national structures and arrangements to form a flexible system facilitating OAT-IFR flights across Europe. [SESAR ATM Master Plan - D5 , §3.1.2 (LoC#2)]
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Europe-Wide Use of Military Training Areas |
The work has not yet started and will be difficult; since politically and environmentally sensitive issues need to be addressed. Before engaging in practical work, the politico-military dimension related to a TSA/TRA (temporary segregated/reserved area) sharing concept at European level, and the willingness of States to apply the cross-border operations (CBO) process, have to be thoroughly assessed.
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Michael
Steinfurth
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Head of CMAC Division
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Last validation: 14/01/2011
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