As Europe reels from the COVID-19 pandemic, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been using its vast logistical capabilities to distribute essential supplies to stricken member states.

In a statement, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg described the outbreak as "unprecedented" and said the 29-member military alliance was "implementing robust measures to limit the spread of the virus."

With civilian aviation mostly grounded and lacking the heavy-lift capacity of large military and certain types of cargo aircrafts, NATO has stepped in to distribute critical aid to the affected regions.

The Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) is its nodal agency for civil emergency response in the Euro-Atlantic area.

The center operates throughout the year on a 24/7 basis, coordinating requests and offers of assistance in times of natural and man-made disasters.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, the EADRCC has gone into overdrive, processing a deluge of calls for help from member states, mainly to transport medical and other essential supplies.

In the past few days it has been approached by Italy, Spain, Ukraine and Montenegro for assistance.

NATO also oversees two strategic airlift programmes that are being used in the present crisis. One of which, the Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC), operates three C-17 Globemaster heavy cargo aircraft. Its flying hours and costs are shared by member states.

The other – the Strategic Airlift International Solution (SALIS) programme – charters civilian Antonov transport planes.

Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia are currently part of the initiative and can take advantage of the service when required.

A NATO spokesperson said: "Strategic airlift capabilities are important to ensure that NATO allies are able to deploy their forces and equipment rapidly to wherever they are needed.

"The programme is administered by the NATO Support Procurement Agency (NSPA). In December 2018, NSPA signed a strategic airlift contract with the Germany-based company Antonov Logistics Salis to obtain assured access of up to five AN-124 aircraft to the end of 2021."

A fleet of these cargo jets have been criss-crossing the continent, ferrying tons of material sourced from different corners of the world.

On Tuesday night, an Antonov 124, one of the largest aircraft ever built, landed in Pardubice airport in Czechia.

The plane had arrived from the city of Shenzhen in China, carrying more than 100 tons of equipment. In its belly were millions of face masks, goggles and protective suits. This was the second such flight to the country.

A similar exercise was conducted in Slovakia on Wednesday, where another AN-124 landed with 48 tons of medical material from Tianjin, China.

A further 45 tons of equipment, including 100,000 protective suits arrived in Bucharest on Thursday from the Republic of Korea. The supplies were delivered by a SAC C-17 Globemaster.

Weighing in on the fast-developing situation across the region, a NATO official said relief flights and assistance under the EADRCC are expected to continue until the situation improves.

"NATO allies stand in solidarity in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and are working together. There are many examples, including U.S. medical deliveries to Italy, multinational cooperation to airlift crucial supplies to Czechia and Slovakia, and NATO's delivery of field hospital tents to Luxembourg," said the official.

"Allied militaries are playing an important role in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. They are supporting civilian efforts including with logistics and planning, field hospitals, the transport of patients, disinfection of public areas, and at border crossings," he added.

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