Hostage exfiltrations, landing operations, convoy escort and Terminal Guidance Operations conducted by Special Forces, are just some of the scenarios created for the “CAS Week 22/14” (Close Air Support), which concluded on the airport grounds of 4th Wing of the Italian Air Force in Grosseto.
The air cooperation training event, in which air power is used to support surface forces, took place from 4 to 8 April and was led by 185th Reconnaissance Target Acquisition Regiment (RRAO), a unit subordinate to the Special Forces Command of the’Italian Army.
The aircraft Eurofighter and the crews of the two flight groups of the Grosseto base (9th Fighter Group and 20th OCU Group), jointly with the Special Forces of the’Italian Army, of Royal Navy, of’Carabinieri e Joint Terminal Attack Controller of the U.S. Army, carried out training activities aimed at training highly specialised JTAC personnelJoint Terminal Attack Controller) in close air support operations (Close Air Support).
Training events structured and organised in this way allow Air Force pilots to consolidate their ability to conduct CAS missions, both daytime and night-time, in support of ground forces, which might find themselves operating in highly critical situations. The reproduction of certain types of scenarios, as well inter-agency cooperation, allows for more realistic training.
From air defence to activities of Intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance for ground air attack, including in support of ground forces (CAS), this is the range of operational capabilities that the Eurofighter, as a multi-role fighter “Swing Role”, they are able to ensure in the operational scenarios in which they are protagonists.
The training activities CAS week, therefore, represent a valuable opportunity for pilots to improve cooperation between airborne assets and the ground units of the other Armed Forces, training to operate in situations involving both an extreme contraction of action space and a notable expansion of time. The pilot must, in fact, take into consideration an additional element of evaluation: the situation on the ground. This translates into considering further details that exist behind the points and lines on the planning map“pre-flight”, which may seem insignificant from above, but could instead prove crucial for the ground crew.
