About us

In 1992 a group of Reserve officials (Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom) held a meeting in Lahr, Germany, with the aim of learning from the experiences of the International Air Reserve community. 

 

Various discussions were held about the institutionalization of the informal meeting. At the 6th IARS 1998, discussion about having a secretary started; at the 7th IARS 1999: discussion about enlarging the circle of the participating countries was initiated; at the 9th IARS 2001, discussion about the way the meeting would be hosted; at the 10th IARS 2002, the IARS Office was officially established and the concept “Terms of reference” was used for the first time.

 

The Secretary of the IARS Office started unofficially in 2002. The role was conducted by a reserve officer from the Netherlands. Officially the IARS Office was created with the Letter of Intent (LOI) signed for the first time by the participating countries in 2008. The term of the office is 3 years. The Netherlands prolonged the first period of 3 years. At 2012, Switzerland took over for the second term, followed again by the Netherlands in 2018, and 2023 by the United Kingdom. The successor for 2026 was announced as Germany at the 29th IARS, in September 2025.

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The director of IARS rotates amongst the IARS members. Official point of contact for the IARS is the Secretary of the IARS Office. Each participating country has its own point of contact. The host of the annual symosium is the chairman of that year.