INTERNATIONAL GALILEO SAR MEET 2021

HELICOPTERS FROM SEVERAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES PARTICIPATE IN BIGGEST SAR MEET EVER

From 27 September until 1 October, the Galileo Search-and-Rescue (SAR) Meet 2021 took place. This training event was held at Koksijde Air Base, home base of 40 Squadron, which is responsible for helicopter rescue operations off the Belgian coast. With the participation of 13 helicopters and more than 100 crewmembers from 13 European countries, this exercise will be the largest SAR meeting ever organised. This year’s edition is organised in close cooperation with Galileo, the Global Positioning
System of the European Union.

The International Search and rescue Meet is an exercise in which search and rescue teams demonstrate their missions, assets, skills and procedures to one another. The aim of the exercise is to share  experiences in order to learn lessons to make rescue operations even more efficient, safer and faster. The event has three main pillars. A symposium in which each nation presents its assets and procedures. A flight of a challenging nature where skills such as precision, speed and agility of the entire crew are put to the test. Finally, a sports event will test the cohesion of the crew, an important factor in rescue operations. At the end of the exercise, the best team receives the prestigious SAR-meet Trophy.

Galileo is the Global Positioning System of the European Union, aiming to ensure independency and autonomy in the field of navigation and timing solutions from space. Since the declaration of initial services in 2016, Galileo has been providing positioning and timing services to almost 3 billion users. By supporting the Galileo SAR Meet 2021, the EU renews and confirms its commitment to include operational Search and Rescue crews in the definition of theservice evolutions, in order to deliver the features they need to carry out theirmissions in the safest and most efficient way. 40 Squadron has a tradition of organising this SAR event. Nevertheless, the last edition dates back to October 2016. The transition of the Sea King rescue helicopter to the high-performance and ultra-modern NH90 NFH, as well as the covid-19 pandemic,were the reasons for this break. The 2021 edition can count on a very diversified and significant international presence of rescue squads. For example, the “40th” will welcome teams from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Norway, Finland, Great Britain, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Greece, Sweden, France and Slovenia.

Galileo Global Positioning

Galileo is the Global Positioning System of the European Union, aiming to ensure independency and autonomy in the field of navigation and timing solutions from space. Since the declaration of initial services in 2016, Galileo has been providing positioning and timing services to almost 3 billion users. From the very first days, Galileo has been providing a Search And Rescue (SAR) service, based on transponders installed on the satellites. The SAR service has been integrated in the Cospas-Sarsat  Programme, the satellite-based distress alert detection and information distribution system, best known for detecting and locating emergency beacons activated by aircraft, ships or backcountry hikers in distress. Thanks to its Medium-Earth Orbit and the large number of satellites in the constellation, Galileo immediately provided an unprecedented boost in speed and accuracy of the location of distress signals. While with the former system, finding the location of a beacon could take up to 4 hours, with an accuracy of +/- 10 kms, Galileo reduced this to a mere 10 minutes with a precision of 2 km. Today, Galileo/SAR is continuing to develop new life-saving functionalities. By supporting the Galileo SAR Meet 2021, the EU renews and confirms its commitment to include operational Search and Rescue crews in the definition of the service evolutions, in order to deliver the features they need to carry out their missions in the safest and most efficient way.

The team behind the international Galileo SAR meet 2021

The Belgian Air Force 40th SAR squadron worked very hard to organise a unique international search-and-rescue meeting. This week, Koksijde Airbase, will host 13 lifesaving teams and 9 rescue helicopters out of 12 European countries making the event the largest SAR meet in history. We are proud to present you the main organizers behind the international Galileo SAR meet 2021.
Team Commander: Major Aviator Ken De Feu
Ken is the newest member of the team and participates for the first time. He joined the 40th Sqn this summer, fulfils the function of the executive officer (EXO), and is the direct assistant to the squadron’s commanding officer. Before, Ken was an operational pilot in the 17th squadron A109 at Beauvechain airbase and gained experience as helicopter operations officer during the European Training Mission (EUTM) in Mali. As a pilot, Ken totalises 1600 flying hours on the Agusta A109BAi and will soon start his transition to NH90 NFH.
Overall Leader 1: Senior Captain Aviator Valerie Verkeyn
Senior Captain Aviator Valerie Verkeyn, better known as “Val” is an experienced SAR meet member of the team. The 2021 edition is the third SAR meet in Belgium being organised by Val. As a pilot, she participated already into the international SAR meet in Nordholz and in Leeuwarden were she won the SAR award. As an NH90 NFH instructor pilot and SAR captain, Valerie totalises 3100 flying hours of which 950hrs on Sea King and 850Hrs on the ultramodern NH90 NFH.
Overall Leader 2: Warrant Officer Brecht Vandecasteele
Brecht, joined the 40th Squadron in 2002 as a Sea King flight engineer and participated already 7 SAR meet exercises of which 3 in international environment. The 2021 edition is the third Belgian SAR meet were Brecht is part of the organisational team and his first edition as an overall leader. This makes Brecht the most experienced member of the team. Today Brecht is Chief instructor Cabin Operator on the NH90 NFH and totalises 3360 flying hours of which 2200hrs on Sea King and 1160hrs on NH90 NFH.







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