Above left: EPRC
training manager
Lt Col Bart
Holewijn.
Right: Troops
fan out from a
French Navy
NH90 NFH during
an extraction
exercise.
Below: A Spanish
Air Force AS332B1
(HD-21) fl ares
for landing as
extraction forces
prepare to spill
onto the landing
zone.standardized procedures, terminology
and formats to ensure seamless joint
operations when the call comes. It trains
rescue mission commanders (RMCs)
to lead, brief, execute and debrief PR
missions in complex scenarios to rescue
crews that are down behind enemy
lines. A secondary aim is to train airborne
early warning (AEW) crews to become
pro cient airborne mission co-ordinators
(AMCs) and rescue escort (RESCORT) crews
to act as on-scene commanders.
APROC is the only such course held in
Europe. The US Air Force’s ‘Angel Thunder’
operated along similar lines, but has
now been replaced by ‘Red Flag Rescue’,which is designed to re ne and train for
the mission.
The APROC days involved three waves
of missions in nine exercise locations: six
in the Netherlands and three in northern
Belgium. Landing zones were ‘hot’ with
opposition forces lying in wait. The rotary
assets were suitably supported by Royal
Netherlands Air Force F-16AMs and Italian
Euro ghter F-2000As, as well as an Italian
E-550A conformal airborne early warning
(CAEW) aircraft.
APROC 2019 will be held at Zaragoza in
Spain. From 2020 onwards the exercise
will be staged successively in the UK,
Belgium, France and Germany.
and provides assistance in support of
education and training, exercises and
operations as required.’
The well-known motto ‘that others
may live’ manifests itself in a complex
course about operating behind enemy
lines. Holewijn says, ‘PR is often named
in one line with combat search and
rescue [CSAR], but CSAR is a very
specialized operation, often carried
out by dedicated special forces [SF].’
The EPRC course has pretty much the
same mission but it can be carried out
by extraction forces as opposed to
special forces. The exercise practiseshttp://www.combataircraft.net // August 2018 43
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