The balance of a difficult year in which the 44.000 men and women of the Air Force continued to work incessantly at the service of citizens and the country
2020 is a busy year, difficult to tell, to summarize and with important emotional challenges. A year in which the Air Force has never stopped, merging the daily service that the Armed Force is called to perform for the institutions and the community, with support in the fight againstCovid-19 emergency.
Over 70 humanitarian and emergency medical transport in the year that is drawing to a close, life-saving flights for the transport of organs, medical teams or for citizens in need of imminent treatment in specialized hospitals. Many children were also transported to the national pediatric centers of excellence. 25 search and rescue interventions for seriously injured people, lost or in danger of life in inaccessible mountain or sea areas and more than 20 interventions in favor of the Forest Fire Campaign last summer, which saw CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) Centers of the Air Force contribute to extinguishing the fires flared up on our territory, to protect the population and the environment, in effective synergy with the agencies and bodies of the state. 36 take-offs on scramble which involved air defense fighters for the protection of Italian airspace, as well as Iceland and Lithuania, members of the Atlantic Alliance without an autonomous air defense system, in favor of which Italy, alternating with others NATO members, carries out Air Policing missions (air patrol). 5 humanitarian missions to support the population affected by the floods in Ukraine, last June, and in Lebanon, in August, following the explosion at the port of Beirut. 9 operations outside national borders, away from home but with the awareness of contributing to the resolution of humanitarian crises, the protection of populations and the safeguarding of human life.
In this 2020, with the new 5th generation fighters, the Air Force has demonstrated that it is among the few air forces in the world to have its own expeditionary capacity, that is the full and autonomous ability to quickly project aerospace power even at great distances from the motherland and in difficult contexts, at the service of the country.
2020 was the year of the Lauretan Jubilee, announced by Pope Francis and extended to the whole of 2021, on the occasion of the centenary of the proclamation of the Blessed Virgin of Loreto as the "Patroness of Aeronauts".
Finally, in the year ending today, the Italian Air Force was called to respond to an unprecedented health emergency to contribute, with all its capabilities, alongside the other State Institutions, to save lives and restore hope. to the population. Since the first mission in Wuhan on February 2, 3 repatriation flights have been carried out in favor of compatriots, 69 missions in bio-containment for the safe transport of infected patients, thanks to the use of ATI (Aircraft Transit Isolator) stretchers certified for the 'use on military aircraft, as well as 102 missions to transport material and medical personnel wherever necessary. Commitment that continues today with the IGEA Operation, which allows the collection of biological samples using swabs for SARS-COV-2 research in the Drive-Through-Defense (DTD) stations, and with the EOS Operation, for storage at the military airport of Pratica di Mare for vaccines, intended for widespread distribution throughout the national territory.
A year characterized by obstacles and difficulties this 2020, in which the Air Force, in addition to carrying out its mission tirelessly in the service of the country, wanted to give a signal of hope to the Nation, symbolically embracing it with the tricolor fumes of the National Aerobatic Team . This is how the Abbraccio Tricolore initiative was born, as a sign of unity, cohesion, solidarity and recovery, with which the Frecce Tricolori, on the occasion of the Republic Day, flew over all the Italian regions, wanting to testify to the commitment and closeness to the country in a particular period due to the pandemic emergency. It is an embrace that ideally lasts today, together with the wishes for a 2021 of hope, a sign of the affection, passion and sense of duty of the 44.000 men and women of the Air Force who work incessantly to defend the safety of citizens and Country every single day of the year.
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