Domestic operations
2011 was not only marked by the phasing out and the termination of the assistance operation in support of the police after the Schengen enlargement, but mainly also by actions aimed at the support and security of two World Economic Forum meetings on land and in the air as well as by individual natural disasters, all of which posed specific and highly technical challenges to the Austrian Armed Forces.
1.1 Assistance operation in support of the police after the Schengen Enlargement
Since 22 December 2001 the aim of the assistance operation in support of the police has been to support law enforcement organs in their engagement against cross-border offences in the regions near the Slovak and Hungarian Republics by way of mobile and stationary observations, particularly to detect actions relevant to law enforcement and immigration authorities, and to immediately inform the law enforcement agencies. The assistance operation in support of the police was extended for a final period by the Council of Ministers on 30 November 2010. This decision decreed the gradual reduction of the area of operations and that of the deployed forces to approximately 400 in July and from October onwards two companies with four platoons each, until their complete withdrawal at the end of 2011, in close cooperation with the law enforcement agencies of the Province of Burgenland and that of Lower Austria. From January to June 2011 1,000 troops were to be made available, of whom 500 were actually deployed on average. It had to be taken into particular consideration that the Ministry of the Interior’s personnel measures for the establishment of the future structures of the police led to an increasing presence in the areas covered by the military. The new structure started to be implemented as of mid-December 2010. As of the beginning of 2011 the area of operations covered the districts of Gänserndorf and Bruck/Leitha in Lower Austria as well as Neusiedl, Eisenstadt/Umgebung, Mattersburg and Oberpullendorf in the Burgenland province. The reduction of forces was implemented in close coordination with the Security Directorates on the basis of their threat analysis. On 16 December 2011 the final ceremony took place in Eisenstadt. After that the forces were kept in stand-by in their garrisons until the end of the year.
1.2 Other assistance operations in support of the Ministry of Interior (sihpol AssE)
In 2011 assistance in support of the Ministry of Interior also included an operation due to Anthrax, two search operations for missing persons and the allocation of an NBC-defence company on the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Vienna, with the aim of conducting decontamination measures.
1.3 Disaster relief assistance operations (AssE/KatHi)
In 2011 the soldiers of the Austrian Armed Forces performed a total amount of approximately 5,000 man-days with approx. 55,000 man hours of disaster relief following natural disasters and emergencies of extraordinary magnitude.
In March a Villach-based engineer company was deployed to fight against an imminent ice jam at Lake Klopeinersee in Carinthia. In April a Salzburg-based engineer company supported the first responders in recovering a helicopter of the Ministry of the Interior, which had crashed into Lake Achensee in Tirol, with the help of a specially constructed ferry. In June technical forces of the NBC Defence School supported the fire brigade of Langenzersdorf in fighting fires. Also in June, within nine days and under most difficult conditions, a Salzburg-based engineer company together with the construction platoon of the Vorarlberg Military Command built a 42-metre-long replacement bridge across the 70-metre-deep ravine Rappenlochschlucht near Dornbirn, after the original bridge had been destroyed by a rockfall. In July again an engineer company of the Salzburg-based Engineer Battalion under the command of the Tyrol Military Command erected a so-called reduction fence with a length of approx. 3 kilometres and a height of 3.5 metre on behalf of the district authority of Reutte. This enabled the urgently needed control of tuberculosis in local deer populations by the respective hunters in high alpine terrain possible. Most recently, large assistance forces were deployed in July, particularly the Villach-based Engineer Battalion and the construction platoon of the Styria Military Command, in order to repair the considerable damages after floods in the area of Oberwölz (Murau district, Styria). In the course of three weeks several replacement bridges and footbridges with a total length of 111 metres (!) were built, flood debris and log jams disposed of, and comprehensive protective measures carried out.
The analysis of the past ten years clearly shows how varied the requirements were after the diverse natural disasters. Large-scale incidents required mostly a high number of soldiers for a relatively short time span, whereas numerous scattered events often call for few but specialised assistance forces over longer periods of time.
1.4 Operations-relevant aspects of airspace surveillance and air policing
In 2011 over 1.2 million air traffic movements were monitored and the air situation was kept up-to-date 24/7. On the whole, Austro Control with the consent of the Austrian Ministry of Defence and Sports permitted 51,000 flights of foreign military aircraft, Of these, 7,300 were actually carried out. Active airspace surveillance was engaged for some 3,800 hours.
Military Priority A Flights
These are flights that are conducted pursuant to section 145a Air Traffic Act for the identification of aircraft. Such flights are carried out in particular in the event of COMLOSS (loss of radio contact) as well as against aircraft suspected of violating the Austrian airspace. (On 24 February 2010 the agreement on the definition and implementation of common regulations and procedures for the flexible use of airspace between military and civil offices in Austria was signed by the Ministry of Defence and Sports and the Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology. The procedures for military operational air traffic and the distinction between Priority Alpha (A) and Priority Bravo (B) were so determined. In 2011 a total of 41 priority A flights was conducted.1.5 Support granted
Last year, like in all the years before, support was given, among others, from the Austrian skiing federation through the training of rescue dogs for joint operations with AFDRU to events of charitable societies and special activities, such as erecting provisional bridges as well as border surveys.
In this way, the AAF performed approximately 230 tasks, entailing some 74,000 working hours. Moreover, in roughly 130 flight hours around 1,600 persons and 23 tons of material were transported, and eight jack rescues were conducted.
In support of emergency response organisations and in common exercises with these organisations, the Air Force conducted approximately 340 flight hours. Thereby, around 4,000 persons, 80 tons of loads and 230,000 litres of extinguishing water were flown to their destinations. Lastly, some 380 jack operations were carried out.