The aircraft, belonging to Canadian company Air Transat, had taken off from Montreal and was bound for Athens. The scramble of the two fighter jets from the Gioia del Colle air base was ordered by the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre in Torrejon.
Two Eurofighter fighter jets del 36th Fighter Wing of Gioia del Colle took to the air this morning to carry out an aerial interception as a result of an immediate takeoff order, in technical jargon Scramble.
The order was given by NATO through the Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) of Torrejón (Spain), in coordination with the Aerospace Operations Command (C.O.A.) of Poggio Renatico and the entities of the Armed Forces responsible for the surveillance of the national airspace, in order to carry out the visual identification (VID) of a Canadian airline aircraft Air Transat that had lost radio contact with the air traffic authorities.
The two interceptor fighters of 36th Wing, under the guidance of the staff of the 22nd Integrated Missile Defense Group of Licola (Na), They were authorized to conduct supersonic operations in order to reach the aircraft, which was coming from Montreal and headed for Athens, as quickly as possible. The aircraft then restored radio contact with the air traffic control authorities and was able to continue its regular flight to its scheduled destination.
The’The Air Force ensures the surveillance of the national airspace 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, With an integrated defense system, even in peacetime, similar to that of the other countries that are members of NATO. The service is guaranteed – for the surveillance, identification, and control part – by’11th Integrated Missile Defense Air Group (DAMI) from Poggio Renatico (Fe) and the 22nd DAMI Group from Licola (Na), while there are four Storms of the Italian Air Force that with their assets Eurofighter They provide the Air Defense service: the 4th Wing from Grosseto, the 36th Wing from Gioia del Colle, the 37th Wing of Trapani and the 51st Wing from Istrana. Furthermore, since March 2018, the national air defense system has also been integrated with the F-35A aircraft of the 32nd Stormo of Amendola, which contribute, with specific operational capabilities and state-of-the-art technology, to the defense of Italian skies and which were the first 5th-generation aircraft to be deployed by NATO to monitor the Alliance’s airspace in a NATO operation Air Policing.
