General information
Safety is an innate concept in the human mind and its basic definition refers to the “absence of risk”. Safety is related to all human activities and therefore all societies seek to be organised in such a way as to guarantee public safety. In addition to the moral dimension, safety is also a social requirement, as accidents cause losses or damage to people or property and therefore have a social and economic cost. For this reason, activities that could potentially cause losses or damage are usually controlled by national authorities through legislation and regulations.
In this context, since the early days of aviation, the concept of safety has been of particular importance because of the hazards inherent in aviation activities. In order to increase the level of aviation safety, the need to establish a regulatory framework for all the factors affecting it, which can be classified into three broad categories: human, environment and aircraft, was recognised early on. In the early years these regulations were established at national or regional level. However, with the rapid growth of aviation, the need to regulate aviation issues in a common way at a global level became apparent.
Civil Aviation
For civil aviation, this effort began in 1944 with the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, which created the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The purpose of the Convention is the orderly, smooth and safe development of international civil aviation, as well as the development of international air transport on the basis of equality of opportunity and its operation on a sound and economic basis. In addition to other regulated matters, specific articles and Annex 8 of the Convention introduce the concept of airworthiness and establish international standards, requirements and recommended practices for the promotion of flight safety.
Article 3 of the Chicago Convention excludes state aircraft from its scope, referring to those performing military, customs and police duties.
In order to further develop the regulatory framework at national level and implement ICAO provisions, those contracting states that had not already done so gradually established Civil Aviation Authorities, and some of them decided to cooperate at a collective level by deciding to set up bodies to manage aviation issues at regional level. Important milestones at international level are the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 1958, as an evolution of pre-existing bodies in the USA, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in Europe in 2002, as an evolution of the intergovernmental organisations ECAC (European Civil Aviation Conference – 1955) and JAA (Joint Aviation Authorities – 1970), to which all national aviation authorities of 31 member states of the European Union appertain.
Airworthiness and Military Aircraft in the International Environment
According to the Chicago Convention, military aircraft – as state aircraft – are excluded from the Convention’s regulations, and they are subject to national legislation and the exclusive responsibility of the states. However, Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 requires that the EU member states ensure that activities and services performed by state aircraft are conducted with due regard to the safety objectives of the Regulation.
The specificities of the missions of the military aircraft, the fact that they operate primarily within the national borders of the states to which they belong, the basic principle that the regulation of matters concerning the armed forces is the sovereign right of each state and other factors have delayed the establishment of military bodies at national level, in order to organise, institutionalise and manage airworthiness issues, in order to ensure an equivalent level of safety to that of civil aviation.
In recent years, increased public awareness on safety issues in general, combined with a number of military aircraft accidents, which have received considerable publicity, because of the conditions under which they occurred, the casualties caused and the long-lasting legal complications they have created, have led many countries to establish Military Aviation Authorities or Military Airworthiness Authorities, hereinafter referred to as “MAAs”. Three of the most notable accidents were:
- Crash of a Belgian C-130 aircraft in 1996 in the Netherlands, with Dutch military on board, in which 34 of the 41 people on board were killed.
- Crash of a NATO chartered Yak-42 aircraft in 2003 in Turkey, which was carrying 62 Spanish soldiers from Afghanistan to Spain, killing all on board.
- Crash of a United Kingdom Nimrod aircraft in 2006 in Afghanistan, operating in the NATO framework, killing all 14 people on board.
The first countries to establish MAAs are mainly those with a developed aeronautical industry (United Kingdom, France, Germany, USA, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Australia, etc.). The new Authorities have developed a legal and regulatory framework for airworthiness, in most cases adopting civil aviation standards with appropriate adaptation to military requirements.
In recent years, there has been an increasing tendency for close cooperation between the member states of various organisations (NATO, EU, etc.) in the field of airworthiness of military aircraft, with the aim of harmonising their legal and regulatory framework and the mutual recognition of their MAAs. The main objectives of this cooperation are:
- To achieve a high and uniform level of safety of military aircraft within the member states.
- To develop mutual confidence between the member states in airworthiness matters, in particular when participating in multinational exercises and missions.
- To save time, cost and effort by avoiding duplication of common functions by each of the MAAs separately, for identical aircraft.
- To facilitate the exchange of products, services, resources and the creation of a single “market” in the member states, with a common regulatory framework.
- To establish a common baseline in the defence industry to address common airworthiness requirements, instead of separate requirements for each member state.
- To facilitate access to this ”market” by the defence industry of the member states for the provision of products and services, with common and transparent rules.
Airworthiness in NATO
As far as NATO is concerned, the examination of the necessity of defining a common policy on airworthiness issues for aircraft owned, leased or provided by NATO member states has been underway since 2006. As a result of the ensuing processes, the NATO Airworthiness Policy (NAWP) was developed and adopted by the North Atlantic Council (NAC) in July 2013. According to this policy, all aeronautical products, components and devices placed at the disposal of the Alliance shall be certified as airworthy by a NATO-recognised airworthiness authority and shall be tested and maintained in accordance with approved design and maintenance airworthiness provisions.
For the implementation of the NAWP, necessary adjustments were made to the NATO structure. Additionally, the NATO Airworthiness Policy Implementation Plan (NAWP Implementation Plan), which was approved by the NAC in July 2016, and the NATO Recognition Process (NRP) were issued.
From 2018 to the end of 2022, 20 out of the 30 NATO member state MAAs and 2 NATO partner state MAAs, as well as the NAPMA and NAEW&CF MAAs (E-3A AWACS aircraft) have been recognised, through the application of the recognition process. In addition, 29 Civil Aviation Authorities (CAAs) of NATO member states, including the Hellenic Aviation Service Provider (HASP) (as an EASA member prior to the establishment of the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority – HCAA), and 6 NATO partner states CAAs have been recognised.
At the beginning of 2022, NATO started the process of recognition of the airworthiness system of military aircraft of the Hellenic Armed Forces, with the main manager – coordinator of the project being the HNMAA and the participation of the three General Staffs. The process was completed in August 2022, with the issuance of a NATO Assessment Report (NAR) and a NATO Recognition Certificate (NRC), valid for 4 years (thru August 2026).
Airworthiness in the European Union
As far as the EU is concerned, in November 2008, the Military Airworthiness Authorities (MAWA) Forum was established by a decision of the European Defence Agency (EDA) Steering Board, in Defence Ministers composition, with the aim to harmonise the regulatory framework for airworthiness of the aircraft of the EDA member states military operators. In particular, the MAWA Forum aims to develop a common regulatory framework, common certification procedures, a common approach to the approval of organisations involved in the design, production and maintenance of military aeronautical products, as well as the training and licensing of maintenance personnel.
Under the auspices of the MAWA Forum, working groups were established with representatives of the MAAs, the armed forces and other member state stakeholders, which developed a harmonised European framework of requirements for the airworthiness of military aircraft and in particular the European Military Airworthiness Requirements (EMARs). The EMARs are based on the corresponding EU civil aviation regulations and have been adapted to the specificities of military aircraft, having an advisory nature to the member states, which are invited to adopt them in their national regulatory framework or to harmonise with them. All approved documents are published on the EDA/MAWA Forum website.
The EDA main policy document on airworthiness is the European Military Airworthiness Basic Framework Document (BFD), which has been adopted by almost all member states, including Greece. This document sets out the basic principles for achieving the objectives of the EU roadmap on airworthiness, as well as the basic framework for the airworthiness of military aircraft. It also includes the commitment to incorporate EMARs into the national regulatory framework of the member states, which is a necessary condition for the mutual recognition of member states’ airworthiness management systems. The BFD was approved by the Hellenic Minister of National Defence in April 2014.
Airworthiness in the Hellenic Armed Forces
In Greece, until the establishment of the HNMAA in March 2021, there was no single body and common framework for the management of airworthiness issues of military aircraft. Each branch of the Hellenic Armed Forces manages its aircraft separately, with the adoption and implementation of its own regulations and orders, standards and procedures to ensure aircraft airworthiness and flight safety. There are also internationally recognised activities related to the airworthiness of military aircraft, which, due to the absence of a single body and regulatory framework, do not take place in the Hellenic Armed Forces, nor in Greece in general (e.g. certification of aeronautical products, licensing and airworthiness certificates to organisations involved in the design, production and maintenance of aeronautical products, issuing / renewal of aircraft airworthiness certificates, licensing of aircraft maintenance personnel, etc.).
In the Hellenic Air Force (HAF), in September 2011, a separate department for the management of airworthiness issues was created in the Hellenic Air Force General Staff (HAFGS). This department managed airworthiness issues of the HAF, while its staff represented the Hellenic Ministry of National Defence (HMoND) in the working groups and airworthiness-related activities of NATO and the EDA since 2011. Following a recommendation from the HAFGS, the Hellenic Minister of National Defence approved the EDA European Military Airworthiness Basic Framework Document (BFD) in April 2014.
The issue of the establishment of a single airworthiness body at the HMoND, which, in addition to the aircraft of the Hellenic Armed Forces, would also cover the needs in the field of airworthiness of third-party military aircraft (apart from the Hellenic Armed Forces), was studied by joint working groups (Hellenic Army, Navy and Air Force) from 2012 to 2014. The elaboration of the recommendations made by those working groups led to the undertaking of a legislative initiative by the HMoND and resulted in the establishment of the Hellenic National Military Airworthiness Authority (HNMAA) in accordance with article 39 of Law 4609 /2019 (Government Gazette A’67) and subsequently to the determination of the airworthiness requirements for military aircraft and the organisation of the HNMAA according to the Presidential Decree 85/2020 (Government Gazette A’198). The HNMAA was established in March 2021.