Summary
In 2012, the Austrian Armed Forces made a number of new experiences and gained significant insight, particularly due to its international operations.
Austria, by continuing its contributions to the operations of KFOR and EUFOR "Althea” and the ORF forces, underlined its foreign political emphasis in the Balkans. Since Austria’s participation in UNIFIL as of November 2011 within the framework of UNDOF and UNTSO a second international operations focus has been defined in the Middle East. The developments in Syria caught the entire country and even affected the border regions to its neighbouring countries. The threat and risk levels rose to "high” and this has lasting effects on UNDOF and the Observer Group Golan (OGG) at UNTSO.
In the past year, the system C-130 "Hercules” has made a considerable contribution to the independent supply of the contingents deployed in the Balkans and also in the Middle East. In the same way, the national option of carrying out strategic aeromedical evacuations (STRATAIRMEDEVAC) proved to be valuable.
By continuing to participate in the ORF, taking over the logistic lead of EUBG 2012-II and the further development of contributions to EUBG 2016-II, a significant contribution continues to be made to international crisis management and with a view to an increase in the interoperability of the Austrian Armed Forces.