It is completed today the operation aimed at strengthening the aerial surveillance on the Romanian Eastern Front, which began last December with the establishment of the Task Force Air – Romania (TFA-R) Black Storm near the airport of Mihail Kogălniceanu a Costanza.
The use of Hunt of the Italian Air Force in operations of enhanced Air Policing in favour of NATO it will continue in the coming months as planned in rotation programmes already agreed upon within the Alliance.
After reaching the full operational capacity (Full Operational Capability) at the beginning of December, operations began for enhanced Air Policing Area South (eAPAS) with a budget of four Eurofighter EF-2000A Typhoon jets“ of the Italian Air Force, whose command and control was entrusted to NATO, which exercised it through a’Allied Air Command in Ramstein Germany.
Following the spiralisation of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, NATO has decided to integrate further measures of reassurance by adopting a persistent deterrence posture and defence on the Alliance's eastern borders. For this reason, Italy has doubled the air assets of the TFA and, since April, her mission has evolved into the so-called Enhanced Vigilance Activity (eVA), a set of measures aimed at sending a message of cohesion e Solidarity among the Allies, increasing the Readiness, acting as a deterrent and demonstrating the firm commitment of NATO in the defence of all Allies.
I Typhoon and the crews that took part in the operations in Romania, coming from all Stormi of the’Italian Air Force who use this weapons system (the 4th, 36th, 37th and 51st Wing) have passed the 1400 flight hours, a result never achieved by a TFA on European soil. This result amounts to approximately 750 sorties, of which over half are assigned to air policing missions on the Romanian borders to support eVA.
The TFA, despite being a joint command subordinate to the Interforce Summit Operational Command (COVI), was composed on average of 160 men and women of the’Italian Air Force, in addition to the military police component provided by the Carabinieri.
In parallel, a high degree of Interoperability with the Alliance's air assets that in recent months have been deployed in the area alongside the aircraft of the Italian Air Force. In fact, besides having performed the service of Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) jointly with the Typhoons Germans, exercises have been conducted Personnel Recovery e Slow Mover Interceptor with the Romanian Air Force e Americans, carry out joint activities with the French Navy e yellow and, finally, it was provided close air support in support of land forces Belgians, French, Romanians, Britons and Americans.
