Kenya has intensified preparations to host the inaugural exercise of the Association of African Air Forces (AAAF), a multinational drill that will test how quickly air forces from across the continent can pool aircraft and crews to respond to a major disaster.

The Kenya Air Force (KAF) hosted a trilateral planning meeting at its headquarters on Thursday, October 15, bringing together officials from the US Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and the AAAF Secretariat, according to a Ministry of Defence statement released on October 17. The meeting reviewed progress towards the AAAF Command Post and Field Training Exercise, known as AAAFEX 2027, which will be staged in Nairobi, Kisumu and Busia.

Who attended

Commander Kenya Air Force Major General Bernard Waliaula received the visiting delegation, which was led by Major General Melissa Coburn, representing the AAAF co-chair. She was accompanied by AAAF Secretary General Colonel Kristin Cullinan and Co-Secretary General Group Captain Olakule Bankole, the ministry said.

The KAF planning team was headed by the exercise director, Brigadier Hillary Kipkurui, who is also the Base Commander at Laikipia Air Base.

Discussions centred on planning milestones, the resources participating nations have committed, and arrangements for coordinating operations. The teams also looked at designing realistic scenarios, integrated command and control, the deployment of air assets and multinational coordination in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Both generals called for intensified preparation, realistic training and effective integration of resources, with the meeting adopting the motto “Nguvu Pamoja — Collective Strength,” according to the statement.

A first for African air power

AAAFEX 2027 will be the first AAAF exercise to combine a command post exercise, in which commanders and staff plan and direct operations, with a live-fly field training exercise involving real aircraft. Its scenarios will simulate flood emergencies, a choice that reflects the growing toll of extreme weather across East Africa.

People Daily reported that the drill will test multi-agency coordination in flood rescue. Earlier coverage by Kenyans.co.ke said the exercise is expected to bring together the United States and 14 African countries, and that planned activities include search and rescue, medical evacuations and the delivery of food, water and medical supplies to cut-off communities.

The choice of Kisumu and Busia is significant. Both counties sit in the Lake Victoria basin, where the River Nzoia, River Nyando and other waterways regularly burst their banks during the long and short rains, displacing thousands of families in Budalang'i, Nyando and surrounding areas. Kenya's 2024 floods, which killed more than 200 people nationwide, underlined the need for rapid airlift and rescue capacity.

Months of planning

The October meeting builds on a Mid Planning Conference held in Nairobi from August 3 to 7, 2026, which drew representatives from 15 AAAF member countries alongside USAFE-AFAFRICA. That conference worked on refining the exercise plan and validating draft standard operating procedures and a concept of air operations and movement, according to the Ministry of Defence.

The exercise is also linked to wider efforts by African air chiefs to build a common framework for humanitarian air operations. The 2026 African Air Chiefs Symposium worked on a seven-year plan for the association, with disaster response identified as a priority area for cooperation.

The AAAF was established to promote cooperation, interoperability and shared training among African air forces. Hosting its first full-scale exercise places Kenya at the centre of efforts to turn that cooperation into practical capability on the ground.

No specific dates for AAAFEX 2027 have been announced. Some earlier reports referred to early 2027, while the ministry has said only that it will take place next year.

Photos: A Kenya Air Force UH-1 helicopter during a rescue demonstration (Master Sgt Renae Pittman, U.S. Air Force, Wikimedia Commons, public domain); military transport aircraft in Nairobi (Bahnfrend, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).