EU Will Pool Helos for International Ops

European Union countries have agreed to pool their helicopter capabilities to support international operations. EU defense ministers meeting May 26 charged the European Defence Agency with coordinating the initiative, which will cover joint training, logistics and upgrading helicopters to operate in austere environments in league with NATO. The move recognizes that helicopters “can often make the difference in the success or failure of crisis management missions," said the EU’s head of foreign and security policy, Javier Solana. It builds on a French-British initiative that was launched in March. The lack of deployable helicopters has hindered EU support for NATO operations in Afghanistan and the deployment of 3,700 troops to aid Sudanese refugees in Chad. For related news