Building Partner Capacity in Action

The US Air Force Special Operations School is hosting the inaugural building partner aviation capacity course (BPACC) through the end of this week at Hurlburt Field, Fla. Participating are representatives from the US military as well as Costa Rica and Sudan. BPACC is a civilian and military aviation-focused course designed for up to 30 international and 10 American students. It is a revamped version of the civil-military strategies for internal development course that the school previously offered, according to Maj. Eric Larson, course director. The BPACC have evolved “to put particular emphasis on the development of civilian and military aviation resources as a component of a partner nation’s internal defense and development plan,” he explained. The course is one of many activities by the Air Force to build up the capacity of partner nations so that they can better deal with issues like political violence, under-governed spaces, under-development, humanitarian disasters, and transnational crime networks. (Hurlburt report by Capt. Kristen D. Duncan)