On the 20th anniversary of the first aircraft being delivered to the Armed Forces, we remember the over 200,000 flight hours in service to the community, in Italy and abroad.
Monday 18 March took place in Grosseto, seat of the 4th Wing of the Italian Air Force, the ceremony of 20th anniversary of the delivery of the first Eurofighter Typhoon F-2000, the aircraft that today represents the backbone of national air defence, a prized asset that, with over 200,000 hours flown With 135,000 sorties in Italy and abroad, it monitors and defends Italian and Atlantic Alliance skies.
It was 16 March 2004 when the Eurofighter Typhoon was delivered to the 4th Wing in Grosseto, the first operational unit of the Italian Air Force to receive the aircraft that today represents the backbone of Air Defence national, the first aircraft were assigned to the IX Fighter Group and the first to receive them was the then Colonel Alberto Rosso, Wing Commander and later Chief of Staff of the Air Force. After a transition period from the F-104 to the F-2000 and related infrastructure adaptation work, on 16 December 2005 the 4th Wing, under the command of Colonel Vittorio Iannotta, the Italian Airspace Surveillance Service resumed.
“Remembering today the twentieth anniversary of the delivery of the first F-2000 means remembering an important piece of the Armed Force's history and its evolution, as well as training, operational, and industrial cooperation successes.”Thus spake the General D.A. Luigi Del Bene, Commander of the Air Force Combat Forces, who continued: “A multi-role aircraft which, thanks to the evolution and continuous updating of new technologies – both software and hardware – is capable of always being adapted to today's new operational scenarios. A system that first enabled a paradigm shift and today is a solid tool for integration with the 5th generation and with the F-35 aircraft.“.
The’Eurofighter It is one of the most complex programmes in Europe which, strongly characterised by close collaboration with other nations and national industry, has given rise to a structure, the Typhoon, from the relevant multi-role capability, a practical benchmark that tangibly marked the cultural change of an entire Armed Force, in terms of training, safety and Quality management.
The’Eurofighter Typhoon It is among the most advanced combat aircraft developed on the European continent. It was born from a project involving four countries (Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain) who pooled their individual requirements to realise the largest and most ambitious European industrial programme. It is a constantly updated weapons system, which allows it to be capable of responding to the different challenges posed by the modern geopolitical landscape.
Twenty years after entering service, Eurofighter aircraft, thanks to the men and women of the Armed Force, have flown across the skies of the world, operating in crisis theatres, in support of Air Policing of the NATO and in complex overseas deployments, such as those that will be carried out first in Alaska with the exercise Red Flag and then in the Indo-Pacific, in Australia, with the exercise Pitch black.
In operational contexts, in the last three years alone, the F-2000s of the four Wings of the Air Force have taken to the skies to carry out wiretaps to safeguard national skies over 50 times. In recent activities Air Policing for NATO, in Lithuania and Poland, the Scramble in 2023, around 40 were defending the Eastern flank of the Atlantic Alliance.
It Colonel Filippo Monti, Commander of the 4th Wing of Grosseto, he said: “Twenty years of Eurofighter, twenty years of an aircraft that is already making history for our glorious Air Force on its 101st anniversary. A weapons system that has required a change in the hearts and minds of personnel, first within the 4th Wing and then across the entire Air Force, which has renewed itself to keep pace with the times and make the Typhoon effective from its very first years.”.
From 21 February 2024, the F-2000s have been deployed to Malbork, in Poland, with the newly formed Task Force Air 4th Wing employed in the area of “operations“Enhanced Air Policing”(eAP) until July 2024. The Task Force Air 4th Wing, comprising approximately 150 men and women of the Air Force, is placed under the direct national command of COVI with the task of ensuring the control and safeguarding of the North-eastern flank of NATO. The TFA is equipped with Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from 4th Wing of Grosseto, 36th Wing of Gioia del Colle, 37th Wing of Trapani e 51st Wing Istrana.
There are 5 Italian Air Force Squadrons that ensure the National air defence and service of Quick Reaction Alert of the NATOfour equipped with Eurofighter aircraft (the 4th Wing of Grosseto, the 36th Wing of Gioia del Colle, the 37th Wing of Trapani and the 51st Wing of Istrana) and one with F-35A aircraft (32nd Wing of Amendola).
The Air Defence system also includes two operational rooms: the 11th DAMI Group in Poggio Renatico (FE) and the 22nd DAMI Group in Licola (NA), both dependent on Integrated Missile Air Defence Department (IMAD) of the Aerospace Control Brigade of the Aerospace Operations Command (COA). From the two operations rooms, through radar signals coming from a network of sensors deployed across the entire national territory (Remote Radar Squadrons), controllers responsible for surveillance and fighter guidance operate every day of the year, day and night, to guarantee the defence of Italian airspace and guide Air Defence assets, providing the necessary information to intercept potential airborne threats.
