Military Adjusts To Icelandic Volcano's Ashfall
Ash from an Icelandic volcano continues to wreak havoc with air
flights across Europe, including American military flights.
Thousands of commercial and military flights from Ireland to the
Ukraine have been cancelled as the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which
started erupting last week, continues to spew ash.
The American military is making adjustments. The U.S. bases in
Mildenhall and Lakenheath, England, and Ramstein and Spangdahlem
air bases in Germany have been affected by the ash plume. "There
are no flight ops due to the mandatory declaration and suspension
of flights from EuroControl," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said
today. EuroControl is the equivalent of the FAA. "We still have a
solid contingency plan for evacuating our wounded out of [the U.S.
Central Command area], and we've relocated some of our aeromedical
evacuation aircraft to Rota, Spain, along with medical teams that
provide for care all along the route," Whitman added.
Flights transporting ill and wounded soldiers that would
normally head to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany are
being rerouted. Joint Base Balad in Iraq has become the new hub for
military aeromedical evacuations, with the first patients arriving
April 17 at the Air Force Theater Hospital there. The new medevac
route runs from Bagram, Afghanistan, to Balad, Iraq, to a refueling
stop at Rota and finally to Joint Base Andrews-Naval Air Facility
Washington in Maryland.
Taking the wounded along the southern rim of Europe takes about
eight hours longer than flying through Germany or England, Whitman
said, but all aeromedical evacuation needs are being met. Aerial
refueling will be employed if clinical needs of the patient require
it, officials said, but it has not been needed yet.
The ash plume has had no effect on operations in Afghanistan,
Whitman said. Some resupply flights have been affected, with
European goods now flowing from other logistics hubs, U.S.
Transportation Command officials said. Still, most military goods
ship via land or water, and these shipments have not been
affected.
However, the grounding of flights did affect NATO Exercise
Brilliant Ardent 10, U.S. Air Force officials reported. The
large-scale NATO response air live exercise, hosted by Germany,
began April 12 and was scheduled to run through April 22. During
the exercise, the 22nd Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base and
the 351st Air Refueling Squadron from Royal Air Force Mildenhall,
have been partnering with air forces from the Czech Republic,
France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Turkey in the exercise.