The Tanzania People’s Defence Force Air Wing has gradually increased its involvement in regional defence drills under the East African Community’s Protocol on Cooperation in Defence Affairs. While direct coverage of Tanzania’s air force in specific EAC exercises is sparse, available sources highlight coordinated participation across multiple domains—where air capabilities increasingly support multilateral training, civil military outreach, and interoperability initiatives.
- CIMIC “Civil–Military Cooperation”
- Tanzania hosted an EAC-wide Civil‑Military Cooperation (CIMIC) exercise around the annual Armed Forces Day observance in Dar es Salaam. Although the focus was largely on medical assistance and civil-military teams, such events often involve air assets in logistical support, transport, medevac readiness, and communications coordination. While the Kenyan contingent was publicly noted, Tanzania’s Air Force likely contributed invaluable airlift and aerial coordination under the EAC defence protocol’s training and technical cooperation pillar.
- EAC Sectoral Council and Exercise Planning, 2023–202
- Tanzania also plays a host role when EAC member states convene defence-sector working groups and exercise planning conferences. The 37th and 40th Sectoral Council sessions, held in Arusha in March 2024 and May 2025, respectively, reviewed EAC Command Post Exercises (CPX) and Field Training Exercises (FTX), shared Standard Operating Procedures, and set the calendar for upcoming activities . Tanzania’s air force staff and planners contribute to these working groups—offering insights on air-domain integration in CPX/FTX scenarios, and ensuring Tanzanian aviation assets are included in interoperability planning.
- Joint Exercises under Justified Accord (2024–2025)
- Although Justified Accord is a U.S.-led exercise, Tanzania has been officially included as a participating host nation in the 2025 iteration (JA25), alongside Kenya and Djibouti . For the first time, Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs) from EAC partner states integrate in real time with Kenyan air assets—conducting night air-to-ground integration missions under Kenyan F‑5 jets. While Tanzania may not directly control Kenyan aircraft, Tanzanian JTACs and planners likely help coordinate air-ground missions, interface with Kenyan aviation units, and prepare Tanzanian participation in live close air support training. This involvement marks Tanzania’s broader air force participation in advanced multi-domain exercises across EAC partners.
- Emerging Air Force Roles and Capabilities
- Tanzania’s air force modernization—though less documented publicly—has likely expanded its capacity to support EAC defence exercises. Reform initiatives mentioned in defense planning include acquisition of modern trainers and helicopters to support operations across land and air domains, as well as developing joint-service academic institutions and command structures for EAC integration . These reforms point toward building Tanzanian capacity in combined land‑air coordination and readiness for regional roles.
- Support to EAC Readiness and Interoperability
- Tanzania’s involvement in planning and execution of EAC CPX/FTX underscores its growing role in air-ground coordination, logistics and interoperability. EAC protocols emphasize “technical cooperation, joint operations, training, visits, and exchange of information”—areas in which Tanzania’s air force increasingly participates, particularly through Arusha-based meetings of defence experts and state-level defence coordination councils.
- Regional Stabilization and Peacekeeping Support
Tanzania has also contributed air-relevant capacity within broader EAC missions. For example, the EAC Regional Force (EACRF)—deployed to eastern DRC in late 2022—relied on troop contributions from Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, South Sudan, and Kenya . While Tanzania’s public involvement centered on troops, its air force may have offered aerial coordination, transport, or intelligence sharing to support logistics and medical medevac. Likewise, under SADC and EAC overlapping mandates, Tanzania’s air assets complement ground forces in regional peacekeeping readiness.
- Institutional Investment in Joint Staff and Training
- Longer‑term investments like the Tanzanian‑led National People’s Defence Campus (including future shared EAC military education infrastructure) signal Tanzania’s commitment to multi‑domain force integration, including air force training. Planned facilities envisage joint-service command units, shared academies, and joint-staff coordination in Arusha—creating institutional avenues for air force engagement in future EAC exercises .
