Largest military helicopter training centre is based in Portugal

The European Defence Agency’s Multinational Helicopter Training Centre (MHTC) was formally transferred to Portugal. Located in the Air Force Base 1 in Sintra, the first pilot and crew training courses are already under way, which are to cover a total of 250 members of the military per year as of 2024.

Now the transfer is complete, signalled by a ceremony presided over by the Minister of National Defence Helena Carreiras, and in the presence of the European Defence Agency (EDA) Chief Executive Jirí Šedivý, a six-million-euro investment in permanent infrastructure will follow. Two buildings will be built: one to accommodate the trainees and another to house the flight simulators. The first one is already under construction. In the meantime, Air Force buildings and hangars will be used.

 At the ceremony held on Tuesday 28 November, Helena Carreiras stressed the importance of Portugal hosting a multinational centre of this type, whose main aim is to build capacities in European defence by boosting interoperability between the various nations’ Armed Forces, which are increasingly called upon to work together.

The aim of the MHTC is to develop military capabilities of aircraft with rotating wings, bring together several areas of expertise in a multidisciplinary centre, including flight simulators, for practical and theoretical training, and instructor training. It will be based in Portugal for a minimum of 15 years.

 This is an EDA project hosted by Portugal, offering the facilities and taking in the 14 Member States’ participants.

The MHTC founders are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, and Sweden.