The Heavy Airlift Wing (HAW) is an international military airlift organization based at Pápa Air Base, Hungary. The organization consists of several European states and the United States. It was officially activated on 27 July 2009 as part of the Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) program,[1] which purchased and operates three C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft that fly under the national markings of Hungary. The Heavy Airlift Wing is currently commanded by a Colonel from the Swedish Air Force, and is composed of up to 155 military personnel from the 12 participating states; Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, and the United States. Strategic Airlift Capability members send their personnel to work for the Heavy Airlift Wing on temporary or permanent positions.
The HAW is independent of any command by NATO, European Union, Partnership for Peace, United Nations, or any other organization that HAW member states belong to or support in the various missions. It is overseen by the SAC Steering Board, which manages its activities with support of NATO Airlift Management Programme Office (NAM PO).[2] The SAC sets requirements and the NAM PO executes those requirements by sourcing the majority of the technical, logistic, and training support to the C-17 fleet from the United States and its military and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programs, including C-17 maintenance which are contracted with Boeing.