The Blazing Shield campaign ended at Naval Air Weapons Station in China Lake, California 2018, which has seen for the first time the joint participation of four Tornado aircraft, four Eurofighter and one C27J of the Italian Air Force. Italian aircraft have performed more than 300 air sorties for a total of 830 total flight hours. For the management of the entire exercise, an Autonomous Flight Department (RAV) has been set up, commanded by Colonel Marco Bertoli and composed of more than 220 Military Air Force, mainly coming from the Operative Departments of the Milan Combat Forces Command (2 ° Storm of Rivolto, 4 ° Stormo of Grosseto, 6 ° Stormo di Ghedi, 36 ° Storm of Gioia del Colle and the 37 ° Stormo of Trapani) and the 46 ^ Air Brigade of Pisa, but also from the General Staff Air Force, from different Departments of the Logistic Command, the ReSTOGE and the Experimental Flight Department.
Blazing Shield represented an important and significant opportunity, not only to test operationally the new AARGM missile on the Tornado ECR, but also to consolidate the self-defense capabilities of the three aircraft supplied to the Air Force, expanding the flexibility of use in theaters in which they will be called to operate. In addition to the success achieved in the testing and validation activities, thanks to the full achievement of the objectives set by the planning phase, the Campaign also highlighted the full capacity of the Armed Force to risk and operate, at considerable distances from Italy and in environmental conditions very different from those present in Italy, a complex device, made up of personnel, aircraft and vehicles capable of producing a considerable volume of high quality activities.
China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) is a US Navy Air Base which houses the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCD) which operates the Land Test Range and the Sea Test Range, the latter located at Point's sister base Mugu. The NAWCD, which is divided into two Flight Groups (the VX-30 and the VX-31) with the F-18 aircraft, is an organization included within the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and is maintain a center of excellence in armament development for the US Navy Department.