On 29 August 2024, the post of the Deputy Director of the European Air Group changed from Brigadier General Xavier Foissey of the Armée de l’Air et de l’Espace, to Brigadier General Patrick Goossens of the Belgian Air Force at the European Air Group Headquarters at Royal Air Force High Wycombe.
During the handover ceremony, Brigadier General Foissey expressed the joy and pride that he felt throughout his two-year challenging mission as Deputy Director. He went on to thank the Permanent Staff and national Subject Matter Experts for their ongoing support and commitment to improving interoperability between member Air Forces, highlighting many of the successes over the previous two-year period that undoubtedly improved the effectiveness of our European forces in the face of a volatile and unstable world. He went on to express his sincere thanks to the Chief of the Armée de l’Air et de l’Espace for entrusting him with the role of Deputy Director, and to his European Air Group Directors (the Chief of the Royal Netherland Air Force, then the Chief of the German Air Force) for the trust they also placed in him. Finally, he wished his successor, Brigadier General Goossens, much success and satisfaction in his new role.
Following a summary of his career, Brigadier General Goossens was invited to say a few words where he expressed his honour at being afforded the opportunity to become Deputy Director of the European Air Group.
Background
The Deputy Director of the European Air Group is a rotational post between the seven member Air Forces of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The Deputy Director’s role is to provide strategic direction to the permanent staff of the European Air Group, on behalf of the European Air Group Steering Group, which comprises Chiefs of the seven Air Forces.
The primary purpose of the European Air Group is to promote interoperability among the seven Air Forces, focussing its efforts on delivering tangible outputs primarily at the tactical and operational levels. It has generated many highly successful air power initiatives, ranging from technical arrangements and training, through to air operations, many of which have been tested and improved during the highly successful series of VOLCANEX exercises. Some of this work has formed the basis for subsequent developments on a much larger scale, including the European Air Transport Command and the European Personnel Recovery Centre.
The EAG is currently working on around thirty different topics, for instance the fighter aircraft cross-servicing in the frame of the NATO Agile Combat Employment concept, the connectivity between the Tactical Data Link systems, the synthetic training at the tactical level or the Counter Small Unmanned Aircraft System.
