At the start in Amendola in the province of Foggia, seat of the 32 ° Flock of the Italian Air Force, the multinational air exercise 'Falcon Strike 2021 '. Until June 15, over 50 aircraft will be engaged for the impressive aerial exercise, including fighters, transport and refueling aircraft in flight and other support assets. For the first time in Europe, as part of a multinational exercise event, they will operate together F-35A ed F-35B of four different Nations that have joined the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program: United States, Italy, United Kingdom and Israel.
The exercise, the most important of 2021 for the Italian Air Force, under the command and control of the Aerospace Operations Command of Poggio Renatico (Ferrara), aims to reproduce an operational scenario in which complex aerial operations are carried out with 5th generation belonging to different nations. The exercise scenarios were created to offer flight crews and support teams a complex, highly changeable and non-permissive context, in which they can train in various types of missions, including the protection of high-value aircraft assets, operations of Close Air Support, air interdiction with strategic and tactical management, support for special forces on the ground, dynamic targeting operations.
The flight activities are carried out within airspace dedicated to training, within which EW (Electronic Warfare) and SBAD (Surface Base Air Defense) activities will be carried out; in this context, the SIRIUS command and control / radar system of the 2nd Wing of Rivolto (Udine) and a SAMP-T component of the Italian Army will also operate.
Israeli F-35 for the first time in joint exercise
For Israeli F-35 fighters this is the “Largest and most distant exercise ever conducted so far”Said a military source in Tel Aviv. A 'senior aviation source' - quoted by the Walla website - said on the matter that "Iran is in our focus". The site also publishes a significant geographical map that compares the distance between Israel and Italy (2.286 km) and between Israel and the western border of Iran (1.555 km). "We will use the special capabilities of those devices and for sure we will share our experiences'”An Israeli air force officer told the press. "We are ready to learn from our partners"he added referring to the Italian, US and British pilots. According to Walla, Israeli F-2021s will perform two missions per day during the 'Falcon Strike 35' exercise.