APF Ghana

Staff Sgt. Jake Van Dyke (left), a 435th Security Forces Squadron contingency response fire team member, helps a Benin airman with his weapon during the African Partnership Flight in Accra, Ghana, Sept. 14, 2016. APF is a transparent working environment between U.S. and African partner nations that builds trust and cooperation to achieve common solutions. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Stephanie Longoria)

Photo Details / Download Hi-Res
APF Ghana

Airmen from the 86th Aeromedical Evacuations Squadron demonstrate how to carry a patient on and off a C-130J Super Hercules Sept. 14, 2016, during the African Partnership Flight in Accra, Ghana. The team practiced loading and unloading patients onto a C-130 and saw the 86th AES capabilities during an air emergency scenario. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Stephanie Longoria)

Photo Details / Download Hi-Res
APF Ghana

Nigerian air force squadron leader Sunkanmi Akinbohun, inspects a vehicle during the entry control familiarization portion of African Partnership Flight Ghana, Sept. 13, 2016, in Air Base Accra, Ghana. APF provides partner nations the opportunity to improve proficiency and readiness in key mission areas such as expeditionary airbase defense. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Stephanie Longoria)

Photo Details / Download Hi-Res

APF Ghana builds trust, relationships, interoperability

Published Sept. 20, 2016
By Staff Sgt. Stephanie Longoria
USAFE-AFAFRICA Public Affairs

ACCRA, Ghana (AFNS) -- Airmen and 12 African nations concluded an African Partnership Flight in Ghana Sept. 16.

Co-hosted by U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa and the Ghanaian air force, the five-day event brought together air forces from around Africa.

"APF is really unique because it’s a military-to-military event,” said Capt. Aaron Charbonneau, the USAFE-AFAFRICA APF Ghana mission planner. “Typically, during a mil-to-mil event, you go to one country and have one objective but APFs are so diverse and we are able to focus on multiple objectives simultaneously."

In all, APF Ghana hosted participants from Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote D'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia to help strengthen relationships and share best practices through classroom instruction and hands-on training.

APFs are comprised of multiple workshops designed to provide diverse experiences to different African countries at one time. The events serve as stepping stones to providing persistent diplomatic, informational, humanitarian and economic outreach efforts that support the diverse people and nations in Africa.

“My goal was to familiarize the partner nations with expeditionary air base defense,” said Staff Sgt. Brad Little, the 435th Security Forces Squadron contingency response force team lead. "We went over entry control procedures, small unit tactics and introduction to military operations on urban terrain."

APF Ghana also included deployment command and control, airfield standup and operations, airbase logistical support, C-130 tactics, techniques and procedures, and aerial patient movement. In addition, 20 Ghanaian army paratroopers jumped from a C-130J Super Hercules in order to maintain certification on personnel drops.

"The dynamic was great, a lot of [partner nations] had similar procedures they did already so it wasn't just teaching, it was sharing their own experiences and techniques, which is what we are here to do," said Little.

Two to three APF workshops are held each year in different countries with the goal of promoting regional cooperation to strengthen the interoperability of African militaries.

For Mauritania air force 1st Lt. Ramdhane Haimoud, an Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance pilot, the experience provided valuable hands-on instruction not taught back home.

"This was my first APF experience and it was a nice one, I learned a lot and will be able to train my friends when I go back home," said Haimoud. "It's was a very interesting, there was a lot of information that was shared between countries and it was a great opportunity for us to get to know each other and train together."

AFAFRICA is committed to conducting multilateral military-to-military engagement and security assistance with African air forces in order to build aviation capacity, enhance regional cooperation and increase interoperability.