Coronavirus: Aeronautica Militare air bridge continues to quickly transfer medical material

Today two special flights: one from Milan to Rome and one from China with a load of over 360 thousand masks

The air rescue machine does not stop to deal with the Covid-19 emergency. Aircraft and Air Force crews, already in the front line since the early stages for the transport of bio-containment patients, are engaged in these hours on an airlift throughout the country to speed up the transfer of medical material on behalf of the Civil Protection towards the regions and centers most affected by the emergency. A great operational and logistical effort strongly desired by the Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini.

Today, at the specific request of the Defense General Staff, the Air Force carried out two other flights to transport medical supplies. Specifically, a C-130J of the 46th Air Brigade transported 4500 kilograms of masks from Malpensa airport to Fiumicino; in the afternoon, however, a KC-767 aircraft of the 14th Wing, coming from Shenzhen, in southern China, landed in Pratica di Mare with over 360.000 masks on board.

With those of today, the number of medical material and equipment transports carried out by Air Force aircraft in the last two weeks has risen to 9.

The structures and crews are in a state of operational alert, 24 hours a day, ready to leave in a very short time. The activities are coordinated by the Air Operations Command of Poggio Renatico (Ferrara), the nerve center of the Armed Force who, through its Air Operation Center, is responsible for receiving and evaluating requests that can from time to time come from hospitals, prefectures or, in this case in a centralized way, by the Civil Defense, translating them into mission orders for the designated flight departments. These interventions fall within the broader framework of the Armed Forces support activities for the COVID-24 emergency. From the early stages, the Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini ensured the maximum defense effort in support of the country and, thanks to the bio-containment transport capacity, the Air Force provided a significant contribution to the device deployed by the Ministry of Defense in support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Health and Civil Protection.

Coronavirus: Aeronautica Militare air bridge continues to quickly transfer medical material