The immediate take-off was requested by the Torrejon NATO operations center to intercept and control a civilian carrier who had interrupted radio communications.
In the morning today, at about 10:25 am, two F-2000 Eurofighter fighters of the Italian Air Force, in alarm service for the defense of national airspace, carried out an intervention on the order of immediate take-off (in technical jargon called "scramble ”) To intercept and verify a civil aircraft that had lost radio contact with the air traffic authorities.
The aircraft, belonging to a civilian company of Australian nationality and headed to Crete from Spain, was crossing the Italian airspace when it interrupted communications.
The two interceptor fighters of the 37 ° Stormo di Trapani reached the plane in a few minutes. Once visually ascertained that there were no emergency conditions and restored communications by the intercepted aircraft, the two F-2000s resumed their national airspace surveillance service.
The operational mission was activated following the order of "scramble" received by the CAOC (Combined Air Operation Center) of Torrejon, a NATO body responsible for the surveillance of the skies of that area and was held under the control of the operational rooms of the air defense surveillance and defense system of the Italian Air Force.
The Italian Air Force ensures seamless surveillance of the national airspace. The Air Defense system against the military threat, since peacetime, has been under the control of NATO which through the Combined Air Operation Center (CAOC) of Torrejon (Spain), carries out the surveillance of the airspace south of the Alps, from the Canary Islands to Turkey and from the Azores Islands to Romania. The air assets of the Air Force, in the event of an alarm, are ready to take off in a few minutes on the orders of the CAOC of Torrejon from the three permanent bases (4th Wing of Grosseto, 36th Wing of Gioia del Colle and 37th Wing of Trapani ) and a temporary base (51 ° Stormo di Istrana).
The national Air Operation Center carries out fundamental tasks in the organization of the air defense service and constantly supervises the correct functioning of the device. If there is a non-military threat to the Italian airspace, the IT-AOC resumes the command of the intercepting aircraft entrusted to NATO, for the subsequent enforcement action. This occurs when a civil aircraft transiting through the national airspace shows an anomalous conduct and, therefore, potentially dangerous for safety, or if it requires air support for technical problems that compromise the safety of the flight, as in today's case, due to the loss of radio communications.