Saturday 20th March saw the handover between Maj. Testa, outgoing Commander, and Maj. Magnani. Over the last two months under the leadership of Major Testa, the ‘Black Cats’ Task Group successfully carried out over 300 flight hours across approximately 60 operational sorties providing Close Air Support and tactical backing to ground troops, as well as aerial reconnaissance activities to support Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) requirements for Regional Command West. The ‘Black Cats’ Task Group, which is integrated into the Joint Air Task Force commanded by Colonel Maurizio Colonna, deploys 4 AM-X ACOL (Operational and Logistic Capability Upgrade) fighter jets to Afghanistan, equipped with a state-of-the-art reconnaissance system featuring high-performance electro-optical and infrared digital sensors that allow the aircraft to conduct reconnaissance on ground targets from medium and high altitudes, both day and night. The flying and specialist personnel come from the Italian Air Force flight groups equipped with the AM-X aircraft: the 132nd and 103rd Groups of the 51st Wing based in Istrana (Treviso) and the 13th and 101st Groups of the 32nd Wing based in Amendola (Foggia).
