Austria has opened a new dedicated air marshal training centre, featuring two cockpit and cabin mock ups, which will be used for specialist police training.
The new training centre, which is situated 40km to the south of Vienna in Wiener Neustadt, is run by Austrian counter-terrorism unit Cobra.
Prior to the opening of the dedicated facility, Cobra used training rooms laid out to resemble an aircraft cabin, shooting ranges and in-service aircraft during ground time.
A Cobra spokesman says: “It consists of two mock-ups and some other training rooms inside where we can provide realistic training. It is like a real aircraft. To date, we have had to use aircraft from Austrian Airlines.
“We have covered, since the beginning, more than 50,000 flights. Members of our unit are well-trained police officers, working in high risk level operations and when they take this training course they are able to work as air marshals.”
He declines to comment on the number of annual trainees which will pass through the centre for security reasons.
The dedicated facility will offer logistics, international law, tactical, firearms, airline operations and emergency procedures training. Cobra offers some exchange training for overseas police forces, an activity which it plans to build on with the opening of the dedicated facilities.
Cobra is only able to provide air marshals for flights operated by Austrian Airlines Group, which includes mainline carrier Austrian, its Lauda leisure arm and regional operation Austrian Arrows.
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Source: FlightGlobal.com
