INTERNATIONAL AIRBORNE OPERATIONS
Our motto 'INTERNATIONAL AIRBORNE OPERATIONS (IAO)' stands for an organisation exclusively providing worldwide Airborne training operations and military training of various kinds.
International understanding is fostered by IAO through the exchange of friendship and the sharing of unique personal experiences among Airborne Units from all over the world.
INTERNATIONAL AIRBORNE OPERATIONS is an international organization that is registered in Germany. Our aim is to support friendship and mutual understanding among paratroopers from every nation by planning and conducting joint airborne events and training operations. In addition to that we organize tactical training units and other kind of operations for the same reason.
IAO was found in 2007 by Stefan Eicker as the successor organisation of Fallschirmjäger Gruppe e.V. found in 2003. Stefan Eicker, who had been the leader of this group as well, could take advantage of his broad knowledge and good connections to various airborne and special forces units in many countries.
IAO has been conducting dozens of successful events in the past few years. During these events we were able to provide unique and indulging experiences to our participants as well as great opportunities for the host units to represent themselves among an international audience. All in all our joint operations provide a solid basement for international exchange and cooperation.
Behind INTERNATIONAL AIRBORNE OPERATIONS stands a very experienced organization.
Leadership
Chief Executive Officer and head of IAO is Stefan EICKER. Stefan Eicker is in charge of coordinating all operations and will run new operations as checking out new possible opportunities and co-operations.
Stefan Eicker has been serving with the German Airborne Forces since 1992. He serves in an active German Parchute Infantry Regiment (part of the Division Rapid Forces [DSK]) as a reserve senior NCO holding the rank of Hauptfeldwebel d. R., which is equivalent to Master Sergeant in the US Army. MSgt Eicker serves as a liaison officer to foreign Airborne and Special Forces units.
Stefan Eicker has had the privilege and honour to receive specialized Airborne training and to participate in military airborne training operations with Airborne and Special Operations Units of more than 60 nations worldwide. He has achieved more than 400 military jumps in 40 nations worldwide under a wide variety of operational and climatic environments. Included in his distinguished Airborne record are famous WWII DZs such as Stendal the first Airborne School in Germany (1936 - 1945), Maleme on the Greek island Crete (Operation Mercury, May 1941), the Merville Guns in Normandy/ France (Operation Overlord, June 1944), El Alamain in Egypt, twice Ginkel Heath and once Heeswijk in the Netherlands (Operation Market Garden, September 1944), where MSgt Eicker had the honour to jump on.
In Spring 2007 Stefan Eicker completed freefall parachute training with the “Black Eagle” Freefall Team of the Royal Thai Air Force and accomplished the German military freefall licence at the German Airborne School in Altenstadt afterwards. Several years Stefan Eicker participated regularly in the freefall training activities in his German Airborne unit.
Since 2000 Stefan Eicker has built a network of contacts at the highest military levels around the world, Stefan Eicker has participated in, organized, conducted or led delegations to dozens of Airborne operations hosted by famous Airborne Schools like Brize Norton/ UK, Ft. Bragg/ USA, Altenstadt/ Germany, Schaffen/ Belgium, Tancos/ Portugal, Aspropyrgos/ Greece, Wroclaw/ Poland, Tel Nov/ Israel,, Cairo/ Egypt, Kathmandu/ Nepal and in Thailand at Lop Buri (RT Army/ SF), Don Mueang (RT Air Force), Sattahip (RT Navy/ Marine Corps) and Cha Am (RT Police) as well with renowned Special Forces and Parachute Units or Associations. To this end, INTERNATIONAL AIRBORNE OPERATIONS retains the best relationships at the highest military level around the world.
In reference to scuba-diving MSgt Eicker is a PADI qualified Rescue Diver. He got military scuba-dive qualifications by the US Armed Forces, Royal Thai Marines Corps and Police Special Forces Rescue Diver Detachment, the Royal Cambodian Special Forces and Philippine Marine Corps.
Staff
The IAO Staff supports and advises Stefan Eicker in all matters and provides our organisation with the combined experience and knowledge of armed forces from 16 nations.
The IAO Staff actually consists of some 40 members. All staff members are freelancers. Nearly all of them are active or reserved CO’s and NCO’s of their national Armed Forces or Police, some are instructors and/or jumpmasters of their national Special Forces and Airborne units. They represent INTERNATIONAL AIRBORNE OPERATIONS in Germany, France, Spain, Greece, Finland, Switzerland, UK, USA, Canada, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Japan, China and Bangladesh.
The IAO Staff is organized as followed:
a) Head office:
The Head office is located in Germany. It is responsible for overall planning, financial issues, registration and merchandising. The leader of the Head office is the company's CEO Stefan Eicker.
b) Regional and National represents:
The regional and national represents are divided into 4 regional subdivisions. These are:
- Team Europe (TEU)
- Team America (TAM)
- Team Asia/ Pacific (TASPAC)
- Team Africa (TAF)
The regional subdivisions (Teams) are coordinated and lead by the Head office.