In the late morning today, a Eurofighter fighter of the 4 ° Stormo di Grosseto, already in flight for a training mission, intervened to verify an unidentified radar trace of a plane flying between Lazio and Tuscany. The order to remodel the mission from training to real was given by the IT-AOC, the division of the Aerospace Operations Command of Poggio Renatico (FE) responsible for the surveillance and control of the national airspace.
Once the civilian plane, a Cessna 152 of German nationality, was reached at Civitavecchia, thanks to the coordinates and information provided by the "fighter guide" staff on the ground, the required procedure was carried out. "Visual identification" (VID) to ensure that there were no emergency or security threat conditions. After having carried out all the necessary checks with the air traffic control bodies, the fighter returned to the military airport of Grosseto. The Cessna, on the other hand, continued its flight to Rome Urbe airport, where it was headed.
There are four Stormi equipped with Eurofighter assets, which the Air Force uses for the Air Defense service: the 4th Wing of Grosseto, 36th Wing of Gioia del Colle, 37th Wing of Trapani, 51st Wing of Istrana. Furthermore, since March 2018, aircraft have also been integrated into the Air Defense system F35 of the 32 ° Stormo di Amendola, which contribute, with specific operational capabilities and latest generation technology, to the defense of the Italian skies and which were the first 5th generation airplanes to be used by NATO to safeguard the airspace of the Alliance in a Air Policing operation.
The complex defense system through which the Air Force ensures, without interruption, the surveillance of the national airspace is integrated, even in peacetime, with that of other NATO countries. The order of immediate take-off - in technical jargon "Scramble" - or as in this case of intervention of aircraft already in flight, it is given by the CAOC (Combined Air Operation Center) of Torrejon (Spain), the NATO body responsible for the airspace surveillance service in the area, which integrates the surveillance and control capabilities of the 11th DAMI group and 22nd radar group.
The national Air Operation Center (AOC) carries out fundamental tasks in the organization of the air defense service and carries out constant supervision on the correct functioning of the device. If there is a non-military threat to Italian airspace, the IT-AOC resumes command of the interceptor aircraft entrusted to NATO, for the subsequent counter action. This happens, for example, when a civil aircraft in transit in the national airspace shows an anomalous behavior and, therefore, potentially dangerous for safety, or if it needs air support for technical problems that compromise the safety of the flight, as in the case today, due to the loss of radio communications.