The head of the General Staff of the Air Force, General Javier Salto Martínez-Avial, presided over the formal opening of the new academic year 2017-2018 at the General Air Academy (AGA) in San Javier on Monday where a total of 530 students will study, of which 107 are new entrants.
The students will follow simultaneous military and university studies in the University Centre for Defence, attached to the Polytechnic University of Cartagena, UPCT.
The General was joined at the ceremony by the chief of the Air Force Staff Command, Lieutenant General Pedro Abad Guerrero, the director of the AGA, Miguel Iborra Ruiz as well as the Director of the University Centre for Defense, Nicolás Madrid; the rector of the UPCT, Alejando Diaz; the Government delegate in Murcia, Antonio Sánchez-Solís; and the mayor of San Javier, José Miguel Luengo.
In his speech, General Javier Salto Martínez-Avial spoke of the “honour and satisfaction ” that he felt when appointed to his current post as the head of the General Staff of the Air Force.
He also highlighted the important role that the Air Force currently has in the Armed Forces and pointed to young officers as being the basic pillar of the Spanish air force, which he said is as “modern, committed as any that are at the highest level in NATO and the Allied Air Forces.”
The University Defence Centre of the General Air Academy has 108 civilian and military lecturers who teach military training as well as a course in Engineering in Industrial Organization, which allows students to complete their five-year studies by obtaining a University degree as well as commissioned rank of the Air Force of Lieutenant.
