It starts today at the air base of Amendola (FG), and will continue until 14 next December, the flight activity of 4 ° Flying Course of the 2018 organized by the TLP (Tactical Leadership Program) of Albacete (Spain), an international military body to which 10 Nations currently belong (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Great Britain and the United States), which today represents the reference pole in the field NATO in the area of joint aero-tactical training and skills development leadership, essential to meet the challenges posed by modern operational scenarios.
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.
The simultaneous participation of 4ª and 5ª Generation aircraft is in fact the peculiarity of this Flying Course, a unique opportunity not only to promote the standardization of tactics, techniques and procedures, but above all to exercise interoperability between different systems, even non-homogeneous, ie the ability of a system to cooperate, exchange or re-use information or services produced by others. The F-35, with its high capacity, which makes it an incredible "multiplier" of forces, is an example of how the technologies of 5ª Generation can give a renewed topicality to the other systems currently available in the armed forces.
Several assets of the Italian Air Force taking part in the 4 ° Flying Course: 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-212 helicopters 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 will instead be used as a base for redeployment for NATO E-3A Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACS). In addition to the AM structures, the participation of the Navy's AV-8B is also envisaged. 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.