On 2 December two NATO Flight Training Europe (NFTE) Campuses were selected by allies participating in the project: they are the Flight Training Centre (CLV) in Pardubice, Czech Republic, and the International Flight Training School (IFTS) to be located in Decimomannu, Italy.
The NFTE is a High Visibility Project will 10 NATO allies participating: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Spain, and Turkey.
This decision has been quickly made, following only six months after their respective Defence Ministers formally established NFTE prior to the NATO Summit.
Both locations will deliver cutting-edge training opportunities for aspiring jet fighter pilots with the first NFTE students expected to begin their training at the campuses in 2023.
A NATO statement affirmed that it marked “a critical initial milestone in NFTE’s ambition to fundamentally reshape the air crew training landscape in Europe toward less fragmentation, lower training costs and increased interoperability. For this purpose, participants will incrementally establish a network of NFTE Training Campuses that will eventually address the entire spectrum of participants’ air crew training requirements, including fast jet, fixed-wing, helicopter, and drone pilots. Today’s selection of the initial two NFTE Training Campuses is therefore just the first step in a highly ambitious multinational cooperation journey.”
by Andrew Drwiega
