Editing Holloman Air Force Base (section)

===German Air Force Flying Training Center===
[[File:German Panavia Tornado.JPG|thumb|A Tornado showing the GAF/FTC emblem on the tail fin|alt=|left]]

In 1992 the [[German Air Force]] made Holloman its main pilot training center in the United States.<ref>{{cite news|last=Devine|first=Jacqueline|url=https://www.alamogordonews.com/story/news/local/holloman/2015/08/12/german-air-force-impact-holloman/32446247/|title=German Air Force impact on Holloman|newspaper=[[Alamogordo Daily News]]|date=2015-08-12|access-date=2021-07-29}}</ref> Holloman was chosen due to its weather conditions.<ref name=WarStrains>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/11/us/a-nation-at-war-a-military-town-war-strains-germans-at-american-base.html|title=A Nation at War: A Military Town; War Strains Germans at American Base|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=2003-04-11}}</ref>

On 1 May 1996, the German [[German Air Force|Luftwaffe]] established the German Air Force Tactical Training Center at Holloman.

The German Air Force Tactical Training Center activated at Holloman 1 May 1996. With the activation, 300 German military personnel and 12 [[Panavia Tornado]] aircraft joined Team Holloman. German aircrews come to Holloman for approximately three weeks for advanced tactical training and then return to Germany. The German Air Force also conducts a Fighter Weapons Instructor Course for the Tornado. Aircrews for this course come to Holloman for about six months.

{{As of|2006|11}} there are 650 German military personnel and 25 Tornado aircraft assigned to Holloman AFB.

There are numerous reasons the German Air Force trained at Holloman. The area offers great flying weather and has suitable air space. Other reasons are the proximity of Holloman to the German Air Force Air Defense Center at [[Fort Bliss]], [[Texas]], and the centralizing of German aircrew training at a single location. To facilitate this, there is a memorandum of understanding between the two governments.

[[File:FlgAusbZLw.jpg|thumb|COA of the German Air Force Tactical Training Center]]
By offering NATO allies the benefits of available space at Holloman as well as the use of the Southwest's excellent flying weather, the U.S. can help maintain the strength of NATO's forces without the expense of forward-basing U.S. forces in great numbers overseas.

On 29 September 1999, two Luftwaffe Tornados crashed near Marathon Indian Basin, about {{convert|15|mi}} northwest of [[Carlsbad, New Mexico|Carlsbad]]. The crash was investigated by Holloman AFB 49th Wing Safety and German Air Force Safety personnel. Both pilots successfully ejected, and were uninjured.

In September 2004, Luftwaffe chief of staff, Klaus-Peter Stieglitz announced a reduction in its training program of roughly 20%.

In March 2013, it was announced that German Air Force units at [[Fort Bliss]] will transfer to Holloman later that same year; this was to end the German Air Force presence at Fort Bliss dating back to 1956.<ref>{{cite news |title=German Air Force plans to leave Fort Bliss |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.armytimes.com/mobile/news/2013/03/ap-german-air-force-plans-to-leave-bliss-031113 |newspaper=Army Times |date=11 March 2013 |access-date=12 March 2013}}</ref> In 2015, due to funding constraints on the planned new facilities in Europe, the German Air Force Air Defense school was to stay open at Fort Bliss until 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_27326602/german-air-force-maintains-presence-at-bliss-air|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20150126022729/http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_27326602/german-air-force-maintains-presence-at-bliss-air|url-status=dead|title=German air force maintains presence at Bliss; air defense school to stay open to 2020|publisher=El Paso Times|archive-date=26 January 2015|access-date=1 February 2015}}</ref> On March 13, 2019, after 27 years in southern New Mexico, the German Luftwaffe ceased flight training at Holloman AFB.<ref name=GAFCC>{{cite web|url=https://www.holloman.af.mil/News/Display/Article/1785719/german-air-force-change-of-command/|access-date=26 March 2020|title=German Air Force change of command}}</ref>