The immediate take-off of the two fighter jets from the 4th Wing was ordered to intercept an aircraft that had lost communications.
In the very early afternoon of today, 14 August, two F-2000 Eurofighter jets from the Italian Air Force, on air defence alert for national airspace, carried out an immediate take-off order (colloquially known as a “scramble” in military jargon) to intercept and verify a civilian aircraft that had lost radio contact with air traffic control.
The aircraft, having taken off from Ciampino and bound for Berlin, had lost radio contact with air traffic control, thus triggering the alarm and interception procedure.
The two interceptor fighters of the 4th Wing of Grosseto, under the guidance of the Air Defence controllers of the 11th D.A.M.I. Group of Poggio Renatico, after take-off were authorised to carry out supersonic activity in order to reach the unserviceable aircraft as quickly as possible. Before reaching the aircraft, near Rovigo, the visual identification was ordered to be cancelled as the plane had re-established radio contact.
The Air Force continuously ensures the surveillance of national airspace. The Air Defence system against military threats, from peacetime onwards, is under NATO control, which, through the Combined Air Operation Centre (CAOC) in Torrejon (Spain), carries out surveillance of the airspace south of the Alps, from the Canary Islands to Turkey and from the Azores to Romania.
The service is guaranteed – for surveillance, identification and control – by the 11th Integrated Missile Air Defence Group (DAMI) of Poggio Renatico (Ferrara) and the 22nd Radar Group of Licola (Naples), while airborne intervention is ensured by four bases: 4th Wing of Grosseto, 36th Wing of Gioia del Colle, and 37th Wing of Trapani Birgi and 51st Wing of Istrana, the latter permanently since April 2020. All the aforementioned wings are equipped with fourth-generation Eurofighter fighter aircraft.
