The Chief of Staff AM announced the achievement of the important milestone in Amendola, on the occasion of the mid-day of the 4 ° Flying Course of the Tactical Leadeship Program, the first with 5 aircrafta generation
"Today is an important day for the Italian Air Force", Declared the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, general of air squadron Alberto Rosso, during the meeting with the press on the occasion of the 4 ° Flying Course of the Tactical Leaderhip Program being held in Amendola. "With the achievement of the Initial Operational Capability of our F-35 we are able to express - first in Europe - a real operational capacity with a 5 machinea generation, which means the capacity of a system consisting of several aircraft, crews trained to use them, maintenance and logistic support sustainable over time. We must be proud of this goal, achieved thanks to the work of those who preceded us and those who every day - with commitment, heart and passion - has allowed us to achieve incredible results, even in advance of what was expected".
"An important day - underlined the gen. Red - also for the meaning of this TLP Course, which represents the first concrete integration of 4 weapon systemsa e 5a generation and an important opportunity to grow and develop together with other nations the essential capabilities that aero-space power must be able to express internationally. Amendola is today an excellence for the Defense and for the Country System as it contains a series of projection capabilities towards the future that are unique in Europe. This Flock represents at best the generational leap that we are experiencing, in which the determining factor is the integration between technology and human element, both in the training and in the operative field".
The achievement of the IOC testifies the wide operational versatility of the F-35 of the Italian Air Force, the first European Air Force to achieve this goal. The F-35 is a weapon system designed to address different types of air operations, able to receive and redistribute an extraordinary flow of essential data to achieve the information superiority, a nodal element of modern complex operations.
After the arrival of the first specimen at the 32nd Wing, which took place on 12 December 2016, the Air Force launched a tight program to reach the operational capacity of the 5th generation platform through incremental stages. From the first flight over the Amendola airfield on 11 January 2017, the first flight to another military airport took place after only one month. In October of the same year, with the participation in the most important national joint-force exercise of the year "Vega 2017", the F-35 worked alongside the assets of the Armed Forces, providing an extremely important contribution that made it possible to appreciate the extraordinary operational potential that the aircraft is able to offer. The subsequent integration with all the national and NATO command and control systems, as well as with all the other weapon systems and the further insertion of the asset within the alarm device for the Air Defense of the national airspace are some of the most important goals achieved. To complete the range of operational capabilities offered by the aircraft, training activities were carried out at the Polygone electronic warfare range, in Germany, and the training campaign for air / ground use in the national field.
Participation in the TLP, NATO's focal point in the field of joint tactical training of Allied air forces, represents a very important achievement achieved in the process of integrating the F-35 into the international operational context in the context of complex aerial operations. All activities that testify to the exceptional potential and adaptability to the most diverse contexts of the F-35, a fighter that can in fact be defined omni-role, that is able to simultaneously express numerous operational capabilities, placing it as a strategic asset for the Defense and indispensable in conducting modern operations. The use of the aircraft also represents a capacity amplifier for all the other weapon systems available in the Defense and Coalition fields which, working in synergy with an 5 generation aircraft, acquire a renewed topicality, raising their operational potential.
THE 4th FLYING COURSE TLP: THE FIRST TIME WITH THE F-35
The 4 ° Flying Course TLP of the 2018, which takes over 900 military and 50 aircraft assets from five countries, has kicked off last November 19 at the air base of Amendola (FG) and will continue until December 14. The purpose of the Flying Course - four are organized every year, usually at the Spanish base of Albacete - it is in particular that of training the future Mission Commanders (mission commanders) through a specific training in complex aerial operations in which interactions between multinational, air, naval and terrestrial forces are foreseen. This session, which takes place in Italy and in which F-35 participates for the first time, is another step in terms of transition to weapon systems and technologies typical of 5 Generation aircraft, in a high-level environment. international connotation and interforce.
Different assets of the Air Force taking part: F-35, which as mentioned are the novelty of this session, Eurofighter, T-346A, G-550 CAEW, KC-767A, P-72A, HH-101 and HH helicopters -212 and remotely piloted assets (MQ-1C and MQ-9A), in addition to the IT-DARS mobile command and control system, the SIRIUS Surface Based Air Defense (SBAD) system and specialized personnel Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC). All the participating airplanes are deployed on the basis of Amendola, with the exception of the Tanker KC-767A, which operates directly from Pratica di Mare, and the HH-212, deployed instead to Gioia del Colle. The Trapani airport is instead used as a base for redeployment for NATO E-3A Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACS). In addition to the AM assets, the Navy's AV-8B participate. Nourished foreign participation, with over 700 soldiers of different nationalities involved and different airplanes, including F-15C and KC-135 Americans, F-2000, Tornado ECR and Jamkite German, F-16 Belgian and F-16 Dutch and AWACS BORN.
The TLP (Tactical Leadership Program) of Albacete (Spain) is an international military organization to which currently belong 10 Nations (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Great Britain and United States), which today represents the reference pole in NATO field in the area of joint aero-tactical training and skills development leadership, essential to meet the challenges posed by modern operational scenarios.