Sunday 29th May, the intervention carried out by two Eurofighter fighter jets from the 4th Wing of Grosseto
The aircraft, which was regularly authorised to fly over Italian territory, had departed from Souda Bay in Greece and was en route to Ramstein in Germany. The interception occurred over Bologna at approximately 7:35 PM. The Eurofighter fighter jets, after visually identifying the aircraft, escorted it until radio contact was re-established, before returning to their base in Grosseto.
The immediate take-off order, known in jargon as a ‘scramble’, was given to the 4th Wing by NATO's Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC 5) in coordination with the Air Force's Air Operations Command (COA). Both bodies are based at the Poggio Renatico airbase, near Ferrara.
The Italian Air Force ensures the surveillance and defence of national airspace 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, through a system of radars, aircraft and missile systems, integrated since peacetime with those of other NATO member countries. In addition to the 4th Wing of Grosseto, the immediate take-off and interception service in cases of alarm is carried out by the 36th Wing of Gioia del Colle (Bari), also equipped with Eurofighter fighters, and by the 37th Wing of Trapani, which is equipped with F-16 fighters instead.
