The Air Force participated in the exercise by providing personnel and various air assets. Several air assets operating from their permanent bases were made available: four Eurofighter F2000 fighter jets for airspace surveillance and defence, four AMX fighter jets for reconnaissance and interdiction, an Atlantic aircraft for anti-ship and anti-submarine patrol duties, a KC-130J and a KC-767 A for air-to-air refuelling, and a Predator remotely piloted aircraft for Intelligence, Reconnaissance, and Surveillance. The “Brilliant Mariner – Mare Aperto 2013” exercise provided a valuable training opportunity within a multinational and joint inter-service task force operating in a complex crisis scenario, such as the operational contexts in which the Armed Force is called upon to intervene daily. The objective is both to achieve maximum integration with other components of the military instrument and to verify and consolidate, in light of lessons learned from recent and ongoing operations, the capabilities that constitute the “core business” of the Air Force, namely planning, conducting, and sustaining air operations. In this context, which involves over 5000 men and women in total, along with naval assets from France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Turkey, the Air Force, which ensures the regular conduct of flight activities and air traffic control in operations and air exercises, also participated with a team of specialised personnel in the area of air operations command and control, deployed partly at the Poggio Renatico Operations Command (Ferrara) and partly embarked on the Cavour Ship for coordination and liaison duties, as well as experts in intelligence, communications, and meteorology.
