The Pozzuoli Air Force Academy was the chosen venue to present on Monday 24 May the best practices and results of the "Technology and training: the contribution of the Air Force for the protection of the environment and human health" .

The event, which is part of a series of extra-curricular training courses on topics such as the environment, cyber-defense, drones and aerospace to allow young people attending the Institute to expand, with study, research and demonstration, the areas of knowledge in the aeronautical field, was the latest in a cycle of meetings dedicated to Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities in military operations. These skills, borrowed from other domains (such as the Environment), can foster better awareness in multiple situations of risk and / or in dealing with emergencies.

To underline the particular institutional significance of the event was the participation of the Chief of Staff of the AOS, Air squad general Alberto Rosso"Today's is a fundamental opportunity to promote the country system, or to create synergy not only for the benefit of young people, in this case the attendants of the Aeronautical Academy, but also in support of the needs of other departments, for the well-being and protection of health and our territory. I'm proud - continued the General - both because the training processes of the academy are current, are in step with the times and offer young people the opportunity to deal with new technologies and new domains: space, drones, the cyber dimension, information technology; both because collaboration with universities, research centers and industry can bring profit and benefits, to grow together and offer new opportunities to our country".

Among the speakers of the event the Col. Angelo De Angelis and Prof. Massimiliano Lega, two professionals who have told their operational experience gained over the years in two distinct domains but arrived at a fruitful and synergistic collaboration in the implementation of the experimental collaboration agreement, signed in July 2019 between the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Military Air Force. This agreement, born on the impulse of the Coordination Unit directed at the time by Eng. Fabrizio Curcio - today Head of the Civil Protection Department - made it possible to use the ISR capabilities of the AM in support of the inter-ministerial action plan to combat the fires of waste and, in particular, those areas sadly known as "terra dei fuochi ".

"Knowing a problem does not mean understanding it - said prof. League on the sidelines of the event - it is necessary to know the complex dynamics with which some phenomena occur, to relate the aspects that unite more places and more points of interest because the phenomena are not accidental or the result of a cultural problem. The "Terra dei Fuochi" is not only in Campania, it is a phenomenon that affects the whole of Italy. Only with this type of awareness can we understand how to intervene, for example with an action of prevention and contrast".

Thanks to the use of skills, technologies, sensors and aircraft assets of the Italian Air Force, the action plan signed in 2019 was able to use procedures, processes and capabilities peculiar to the military but with civil purposes and in an "operational" context characterized by the presence of various institutional actors. Through the use of various assets of the Armed Force equipped with special and sophisticated sensors (Tornado, Eurofighter, AMX and Predator), this activity has made it possible to make valuable information available to other institutions, such as the Civil Protection and other agencies in the area ( including indicators and trends), which are decisive in the activities of understanding the phenomena in question.

Eng. Curcio, unable to participate due to priority work commitments, connecting live during the event expressed his satisfaction with what was done and demonstrated during the day: "What we saw in the Aeronautical Academy is not a goal but the beginning of a complex and ambitious path that could be useful in different operational / Inter-agency contexts. Putting together the synergies between the military capabilities of the Air Force and the needs of the civilian world is necessary if we want to optimize resources and render a complete service to the country.".

The event ended with a live demonstration with the use of different skills to deal with a critical environmental situation recreated in a site specially set up on site. The results of the analysis of the products sent by the aerial platforms were projected in real-time on three large screens positioned in the gymnasium of the Academy, made a real operations room for the occasion.

The activity of the Predator was followed by the complementary one carried out with a small drone and a mobile laboratory of the Parthenope University which, by carrying out proximal sensing and in-situ activities, allowed a complete characterization of the site, completing the information flow of analysis.

"Technology and training in AM - the contribution of the Italian Air Force for the protection of the environment and human health"