“We shall promote future officers´commitment to service, spirit of sacrifice, sense of honor, military discipline, desire for personal improvement, as well as their sense of military camaraderie and cooperation with all branches of the Spanish Armed Forces”.
Founding decree of the Spanish Air Force Academy , 1943.
The Spanish Air Force Academy (SAFA) mission is to train and prepare officer candidates for their future career as Air Force Officers.
The SAFA is responsible for establishing the foundation of future military officers and professionals via military education and training. The Military Education System is integrated within the National Education System and provides students with the required training for incorporation to their corresponding specialties. The Spanish Air Force Academy is responsible for the development and training of future Air Force Officers in the following specialties:
General Corps officer cadets earn a commission as Lieutenants in the Air Force and are awarded the degree of Industrial Organization Engineering.
The Spanish Air Force Academy Aeronautical training curriculum is designed to produce and commission trained military professionals qualified to serve in every field of expertise within the Spanish Air Force.
As members of the armed forces, Spanish Air Force Officers have the following qualifications and characteristics:
Academy Structure
The Spanish Air Force Academy utilizes the following curricula criterion for instruction and training:
The curriculum is designed to consider the professional needs of the aspiring officer preparing for a wide array of military career paths. Cadets will be exposed to a blend of core curriculum requirements complemented by elective subjects resulting in a well-rounded military professional and officer.
In accordance with Spanish law, military students at the SAFA earn their degree through an accredited and embedded civilian military institute (Centro Universitario de la Defensa or CUD) collocated on San Javier Air Base. All students who graduate from both the CUD and the Spanish Air Force Academy are awarded a degree in Industrial Organizational Engineering via a 5-year degree program.
Students who already have a degree and attend the Academy for mandatory military training, spend one to two years developing their skillsets as an officer, military professional, and learning their specialty.
Aeronautical Training
Pilot training at the Spanish Air Force Academy is comprised of both theoretical and theoretical-practical subjects that are taught throughout students’ academic tenure.
The subject content and phases in Flight Training meet the requirements of both the Spanish Air Force and the EASA Part-FCL and EU-OPS regulations for Civil Aviation.
Flight Training is divided into three main phases/stages:
Colonel Pascual Soria Martínez is the Director and Installation Commander of the Spanish Air Force Academy located at San Javier Air Base, Spain. The Spanish Air Force Academy is Spain’s exclusive and sole commissioning source for Spanish Air Force Officers.
Colonel Soria earned his commission in 1993 as valedictorian of the 44th graduating class of the Spanish Air Force Academy. He is a command pilot with more than 3,000 flight hours. He has experience as a Flight Safety Officer and Exhibition Pilot.
Colonel Soria is a highly experienced aviator; he has flown and led in combat and combat support missions as a Squadron Leader in multiple theaters and operations. His time in combat includes serving as Spain’s Public Information Officer at International Security Assistance Force in Herat, Afghanistan in 2010, for which he was recognized with the NATO Medal ISAF. He also served as commander in support of Operation MAMBA, a deployment mission in support of Central Africa Republic.
Colonel Soria has held command and staff assignments at every level to include Air Force Supply Squadron Commander, Air Force Group Command, Technical Advisory at the Ministry of Defense Cabinet, and Plans Division Commander at Air Staff.
His military education background includes national courses to include: High Logistics Management, Water Survival and Rescue, and Fighter Pilot Training. His international training includes: NATO European Security and Cooperation, United States Air Force Air Command and Staff College, Logistics Management, and Tactical Leadership Program.
His merits have been recognized through various awards and decorations:
The curricula corresponding to the teaching of training that are taught at the Spanish Air Force Academy, according to the following criteria:
The curricula are designed to weigh the professional needs in the areas of human, physical, military, technical, and the necessary qualifications of the degree. These plans are developed through compulsory and selective subjects, so that the student can initiate the free development of the student
Law 39/2007 of the military career establishes among other reforms, a new model of military education that contemplates the creation of the University Centers of the Defense (CUD) with the purpose of imparting, among others, the teachings of the qualifications University graduates. In the case of the CUD located in the AGA, the curricula are provided to obtain the degree of Industrial Organization Engineering.
Aeronautical Training:
The teaching of flight in the Spanish Air Force Academy, is composed mainly of theoretical and theoretical-practical subjects that are taught throughout the training of the students.
The contents of the subjects and the phases of teaching in flight conform to the requirements of the Air Force and to the JAR-FCL and JAR-OPS regulations of Civil aviation
Flight teaching is divided into three main phases:
Address
Phone numbers, Email
Web Page
In 1993 the European Air Chiefs Conference (EURAC) was established with the main objective finding new methods of study and co-operation among European Air Forces – within and out of NATO. In this context a considerable importance has been given for a common vision in the ways of education and formation of future officers
Consequently the European Air Force Academies (EUAFA) Commanders’ Conference has been established as a forum of experts in order to exchange information, co-operate and identify areas of common interest to carry out activities, with the largest possible participation of all the member nations, in the field of officer education and training.
EUAFA mission is to encourage mutual education through the sharing of information on officer training by promoting academic and military exchanges concerning cadet and instructor training.
The (EUAFA) Commandants’ Conference comprises of the Commandants of the Air Force Academies of the following European countries:
AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, CZECH REPUBLIK, DENMARK, FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, GREECE, HUNGARY, IRELAND, ITALY, NETHERLANDS, NORWAY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, ROMANIA, SPAIN, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TURKEY, UNITED KINGDOM.
The members of the conference annually elect a Chairman, who is responsible for the preparation of the meetings and who acts as Point of Contact (POC) for all members.
The Chairman, who is appointed for one year for the period between two Commandants’ Conferences, is the Commandant (or his representative) of the Academy that is designated to host the conference at the end of his term.
In order to find common elements within the syllabi of the EUAFAs a Working Group was established in 1998. The ultimate goal was to identify portions of the individual training and education programs that might be suitable for common training and/or mutual exchanges
The EUAFA Working Group is responsible for the following tasks: view the member nations syllabi and focus on common fields within which to provide a basis for future co-operation in training and cadet exchanges; gather, update and disseminate the Databank (available at the website, and updated by the appropriate Working Group member) containing:
In order to achieve a better understanding regarding main areas of training in each country’s officer training syllabus and from which common areas of interest could be found: