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U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. George Broom, 435th Air Mobility Squadron airfield manager, briefs Ukrainian personnel at Staro-Konstantinov Air Base, Ukraine as part of the airfield assessments carried out by the 435th Contingency Response Group July 12 to 20.
Members of the 435th Contingency Response Group spent eight days with their Ukrainian air force partners at Kulbakino and Staro-Konstantinov Air Bases, Ukraine building and enhancing cooperation between the U.S. and Ukraine.
From July 12 to 20, the team conducted two expeditionary airfield assessments, working with their hosts from Ukraine’s 299th Assault Brigade and the 7th Tactical Aviation Brigade, to identify requirements to bring their respective airfields to NATO standards.
“This event is a great opportunity to strengthen our partnership with our Ukrainian allies,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Paul Weskalnies, 435th CRG-Det 1 Plans and Operations deputy director and lead air adviser for this event. “By performing the assessment and sharing lessons learned, we furthered our working relationship and accomplished a task beneficial to both of our countries.”
Twelve Airmen from three CRG units, 435th CRG-Detachment 1, 435th Air Mobility Squadron and the 435th Construction and Training Squadron, assessed airfield conditions, availability of support services and the general operational and support environment around the airfield. They also familiarized Ukrainian air force personnel on NATO-interoperable airfield requirements.
The assessment team met with several subject matter experts from the Ukrainian air force and discussed topics ranging from air base security to support services. They also discussed considerations for exercises and future partnership building events.
“Bringing the variety of subject matter experts allowed us to interact with more of our Ukrainian counterparts.” said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Adrian Espinosa, 435th CRG-Det 1 Air Advisor Flight air adviser and fuel specialist. “We each came back with observations that could lead to future security cooperation engagements.”
The assessments came from a Ukraine and U.S. joint commission established in October 2014. The commission’s goal is to build an achievable, sustainable engagement plan to institute fundamental reform, build capability, grow capacity and develop transformed Ukrainian armed forces.
According to Weskalnies, the assessment marked another successful event for the dedicated Airmen of the 435th CRG. Both countries learned a great deal from one another and continued to enhance interoperability and build mutual respect with each other.
