On March 1, Canada became the fourth nation (after the Netherlands, Italy and France) to receive a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Recognition Certificate for its Military Airworthiness Authority (MAA). This recognition was based on the Canadian MAA‘s military readiness and the level of maturity of the DND/CAF Airworthiness Program that regulates the safety of the military aircraft fleets.

NATO Recognition is the mechanism used by the Alliance to ensure the airworthiness of aeronautical products owned, leased, rented, or chartered on its behalf, and it is expected to become a requirement for all member nations contributing aviation assets to its operations. NATO Recognition of our MAA is the result of a thorough assessment process, which culminated in a two-day on-site visit of a NATO Assessment Team to the ADM(Mat) Campus, in Gatineau, Que., in mid-October 2018, and an Assessment Report that the team completed in February this year.

The Technical Airworthiness Authority (TAA), one of the four regulators under DND/CAF Airworthiness Program, acted as the Canadian MAA in the review process, based on a long-standing representation at military airworthiness-related international fora, as well as on the fact that most nations interpret airworthiness as relating primarily to those elements addressed in the Technical Airworthiness Program.

This achievement not only serves to advance NATO‘s implementation of its Airworthiness Policy, it benefits the DND/CAF by providing an independent peer review of our Airworthiness Program. Furthermore, as NATO recognizes more of the Alliance’s member nation MAA‘s, it will lead to greater trust and harmonization amongst the partners when engaged in combined air force operations.

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