Air Defence: Two Eurofighter jets intercept civil aircraft that had lost radio contact

At around 16:30 on 18 September, two Eurofighter interceptor fighter jets of the Italian Air Force scrambled from the Gioia del Colle (BA) air base, home to the 36th Fighter Wing, to reach and identify a transport aircraft Boeing 737 which had taken off from Suceava (Romania) and was heading to Ciampino (RM). During its route, the civil aircraft temporarily lost radio contact with the national civil air traffic control authorities.

The immediate take-off order, in technical jargon “Scramble“, was given by the CAOC (Combined Air Operations Centre) in Torrejón, Spain, the NATO body responsible for the area, in coordination with the Aerospace Operations Command (COA) of Poggio Renatico and the Armed Forces bodies responsible for the surveillance of national and NATO airspace.

Just before being reached by the pair of interceptors, the Boeing 737 re-established radio communications. The planned visual identification (VID) procedure was nonetheless carried out by the two fighters, which subsequently returned to Gioia del Colle to resume their ground-readiness shift for the national airspace surveillance service.

The Italian Air Force ensures the surveillance of national airspace 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without interruption., via a complex air defence system integrated since peacetime with that of other NATO countries. The order of Scramble, is provided by the CAOC (Combined Air Operations Centre) in Torrejon (Spain), which is responsible for the air space surveillance service of southern Europe, to the operations rooms of the 11th DAMI Group in Poggio Renatico (FE) and the 22nd DAMI Group in Licola (NA). The two Groups are placed, through the DAMI Department, under the command of the Aerospace Control Brigade, which carries out the functions of Service Provider and Armed Force point of contact, via the COA, in the sectors of Integrated Air Missile Defence and Operational Air Traffic Coordination and Control.

There are four Italian Air Force Wings that ensure the Air Defence service with Eurofighter assets: the 4th Wing of Grosseto, the 36th Wing of Gioia del Colle, the 37th Wing of Trapani and the 51st Wing of Istrana. Furthermore, since March 2018, the F-35A aircraft of the 32nd Wing of Amendola have also been integrated into the national air defence system, contributing, with specific operational capabilities and latest-generation technology, to the defence of Italian skies, and which were the first 5th-generation aircraft to be used by NATO to police the Alliance's airspace in a NATO Air Policing operation.