Aircraft landings that occurred on the morning of Friday 16 August 2024
After more than 40 days of activity, marked by over 270 outings and beyond 350 hours of flight, both day and night, on Friday 16 August 2024, aircraft and most of the Italian contingent engaged in Indo-Pacific Air Campaign 2024 They have returned to their homeland. The long journey home began in Japan, at the end of the Rising Sun 2024 exercise, and after stops in the Philippines, Malaysia, the Maldives, and Qatar, it concluded at the various home bases of the personnel and aircraft: the 4th, 36th, 37th, and 51st Wings for the Eurofighters, the 6th and 32nd Wings for the F-35s, the 14th Wing for the KC-767As and E-550 CAEW, and the 46th Air Brigade for the C-130Js.
The Italian Air Force's aerial campaign in Indopacific, which began on 30 June 2024, saw the Armed Force's participation in’International exercise Pitch Black 24 in Australia, from 12 July to 2 August 2024, and at the Rising Sun 2024, from 6 to 9 August 2024, along with the Japan Air Self-Defence Force.
In addition to the specific objectives of the exercises, deployment on the eastern flank of the globe has allowed training in technical and logistical capabilities with a view to expeditionary of the Air Force, meaning the ability to deploy a Large Force Package (LFP) and demonstrate that it can operate by producing significant effects at short notice and at long distances from Home Base, protecting national interests wherever they may be.
Welcoming the crews, at each Wing, were the families and colleagues of the military personnel who had returned to Italy after training over 13,000 km away. The respective Commanders thanked their personnel involved in the two exercises, highlighting the valuable contribution made in the two training contexts and also underlining the commitment of the personnel who supported the operational activities from their respective air bases.
It 4th, 36th, 37th and 51st Wings they contributed to the training activity with the Eurofighter F-2000A Typhoon of the Air defence, the pilots and the technical and support staff for the activities of Training, a fundamental commitment, the latter also in the complex phases of redeploying the contingent and aircraft. In particular, several training missions, day and night, have been carried out. Air Interdiction and Defensive Counter Air. The Indo-Pacific Air Campaign also set a small record for the Italian Eurofighters, which, prior to Rising Sun, they had never flown so far east in the world.
Instead, the 32nd and 6th Wing have made available the F-35A and B Lightning II multirole aircraft who have trained, throughout the entire air campaign, in an integrated manner with 4th and 5th generation aircraft, fully valuing the experiences gained in numerous operations of Air Policing of NATO and in multiple international exercises, in particular the Falcon Strike and the Red Flag. The Italian Air Force's training commitment in Indopacific continues for the next few months with two F-35Bs embarked on the Navy aircraft carrier Cavour, to further develop the national joint force capability for sea projection with 5th-generation aircraft.
The entire fleet Tanker dell’Aeronautica Militare has allowed the transfer of Eurofighter and F-35 fighter jets to Australia and then Japan, under the surveillance of CAEW, which thanks to Satcom capabilitySatellite Communication), has allowed the connection real-time with the chain of command in Italy. The CAEW also contributed to Battle Management Command and Control in numerous training sorties characterised by complex scenarios during the two international exercises. One of the KC-767A It was deployed for the entire period at Amberley (Australia) and Misawa (Japan) bases, from where it conducted operations of In-flight refuelling to the fighter assets.
With the return flight from Japan, the contribution of 46th Air Brigade of Pisa in support of the exercises Pitch Black 2024 e Rising Sun 2024, as well as Transport activities as well as for the peculiar activity of Oceanic SAR, ..., demonstrating the great flexibility of use of C-130J aircraft and the extremely high training of the crews and specialists capable of preparing the different configurations very quickly, adapting to different operational scenarios.
Even the Operational Electronic Warfare Support Department (Re.S.T.O.G.E.) participated in the Indo-Pacific air campaign, ensuring the processing of Mission Data functional for the deployment of the F-2000 and F-35 aircraft. The execution phase involved analyst personnel Electronic Warfare in support of the structures Combat Air On-Board Operators responsible for the use and enhancement of the CAEW's Electronic Surveillance capabilities.
