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    A visit to the Multinational Army Aviation Battailon "Mercury"...





    ....flying for KFOR-Peacekeepers out of Toplicane, Kosovo



Mercury is a rather unique thing - it is one of only very few multinational helicopter units in the world (a second, at least for some time, was ran under SFOR in Bosnia).
Made up of German Hueys from the Luftwaffe and Bundeswehr (which also provides most of the Camp Infrastructure at Toplicane), from Swiss Super Pumas and most recently Austrian Alouette III and Black Hawks, this squadron-sized team is flying unified under one set of standards, one command, and for one mission - to provide Air Mobility for the Peacekeepers, mainly for the Quick-Reaction Crowd & Riot Control Troops. In my opinion this offers a look into the future of European security politics - neutral countries like Switzerland and Austria can not shy away from their responsibility in the world, and thus require the ability to cooperate with NATO-Troops.