Within the framework of public interest missions, the Ministry of National Defence is charged to organize the operations of aeronautics research and rescue in the zone of national responsibility, rising from the international agreements ratified by Algeria.
Under the terms of "convention de Chicago" relating to the international civil aviation, in particular its article 25, and to which Algeria adhered in 1963, the mission of the SAR service consists in proceeding and organizing the operations of research and the rescue of the aircraft in distress or in difficulty in the zone of national responsibility (FIR ALGIERS).
The SAR mission is a permanent mission of public service having interdepartmental character.

• To test interdepartmental coordination in management and control of SAR operations;
• To test the airports alert service and the Regional Control Center of Algiers;
• To evaluate the operational of the aerial means in a SAR mission in a mountainous, maritime or desert area;
• To evaluate the delays of engagement of the intervention means of the plan (ORSEC) modules.

Decree N°94-457 of december 20^th 1994 (OJ N° 86 of december 20^th 1994)

Air means:

• military Aircraft in semi-specialized configuration equipped with means of electronic location (Homing) and inertial navigation equipment (INS) for automatic research;
• Military helicopters of rescue;
• Occasional air means (military aircraft, flying-club, airline companies, etc...).

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Naval means:

• Military high-speed motorboats of the National Service of the Coasts-Guards (Naval Forces);
• Ships of Merchant Navy and Autonomous Ports (capitaincies);
• Any type of occasional boarding (zodiacs, fishing boats).

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Surface means:

• Military;
• Civil defence;
• Border Police;
• Customs Administration;
• Forest Administration.

Alert phase: it is characterized by three situations:



INCERFA	phase of uncertainty, of doubt
ALERFA	phase of alert, of fear
DETRESFA	phase of distress, serious and imminent danger

This phase is started by the civil or military organizations of air traffic control like by the international system of research and rescue by satellites COSPAS/SARSAT in which Algeria takes part with the implementation since 1996 of a segment ground made up of a station ' LUT' (Local User Terminal) in OUARGLA and of a Center of exploitation ' MCC' (Mission Center Control) in Algiers.


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Research phase:
• Establishment of a probable zone of research by the RCC ;
• Engagement of the air, terrestrial and naval means according to the situations;
• Engagement of the researchteams.

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Rescue phase:
This phase is characterized by:
• The engagement of the Search and Rescue teams of the public, parapublic and possibly the private administrations;
• The release of plan ORSEC according to the extent of the catastrophe.

Classic alert


Concerning alert the letters of approvals between the CCR of Algiers and the adjacent CCRS (Marseilles, Tunis, Casablanca, Barcelona and Dakar) confirm that the service of alert is normally assured.

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Alert by satellites (COSPAS /SARSAT):


COSPAS/SARSAT alerts are transmitted by the MCC of Algiers directly to the RCC of Algiers. When these alerts are localised in the zones of Burkina-Faso, Egypt, Libya and Niger, they are transmitted to the MCC of these countries which belong to the Algiers zone service..

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Algerian-Spanish agreement:


a memorandum of understanding on Search and Rescue aircraft between Algeria and Spain was signed on November 14^th, 2007.

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Algerian-Malian government agreement:


An agreement between Algeria and Mali on the aircraft search and rescue was signed on September 11^th, 2011.