The delegation was able to observe the training systems of the Galatina Flight School on Thursday 22 November. A delegation from the Egyptian Air Force (EAF), the Egyptian air force, accompanied by representatives of the company Leonardo, visited the 61st Stormo, the international flight school based at the airport of Galatina/Lecce. The guests were welcomed by Colonel Alberto Surace, Commander of the 61st Stormo, who presented the mission and vision of the Department, as well as the stages through which flight training develops and the school’s training offer. The delegation then visited the main facilities dedicated to the fourth phase of training for pilots destined for combat lines, called “Lead In-to Fighter Training”, which takes place on the T-346 system. Within the building that houses the “ground” segment of the Integrated Training System (ITS) T-346, particular attention has been drawn to the LVC (Live, Virtual and Constructive) philosophy that permeates the entire process associated with the system and allows pilots to operate simultaneously and in combination in real flight (live) and on various types of simulators (virtual), interfacing with every type of force/threat generated by the computer (constructive). These capabilities were tested during the visit during a flight mission in pairs between a simulator, the Full Mission Simulator (FMS), commanded by an Egyptian officer and a real-flight aircraft, piloted by an instructor from the 61st Flight; at the same time, from the RTMS (Real Time Monitoring System) station, the remaining members of the delegation were able to observe in real time the course of the mission. Colonel Luigi Casali, representing the Air Force School Command of Bari, from which the Stormo operates, presented the International Flight Training School (IFTS), the result of an agreement signed between the Air Force and Leonardo Company to enhance the training offer already available at the 61st Stormo. This project is the result of the desire to bring together two national excellences to create synergy for the benefit of the entire national system: the expertise of the Navy in training capabilities and the resources of the leading Italian industrial company in the security and defense sector. It is therefore a continuous evolution for the Salento air base, necessary to enable the Air Force to achieve, in the field of flight training, increasingly significant cost-efficiency objectives in terms of the quality of the exit level of the trainees and the containment of overall resources.
