The Air Force with its members Tornado del 6 ° Stormo di Ghedi has already been practicing since last April 8 in Spain in the "Las Bardenas" shooting range in the Community of Navarre and will remain in the Iberian Peninsula until the third week of the current month.
A normal exercise mission, usually carried out at Capo Teulada and Capo Frasca in Italy, which serves to maintain the operational standard of the military pilots of the Air Force (in 2015 on average 65 days of activity in the Sardinian polygons).
In fact, the "Las Bardenas" shooting range contains the same technical and operative characteristics of the two Sardinian polygons, where for over 40 years our Aeronautics is training at home.
Our aircraft also go to Spain to test the polygon's capabilities, as they went to Corsica - Solenzara range - and in Eastern Europe because we cannot think of maintaining an operational capacity without constant training even with the use of of suitable polygons.
It could be the "technical tests" to look for an alternative to Sardinia due to the many current restrictions and the lack of regional political support for the maintenance and development of the defense industry on the island.
What is happening in Sardinia is very serious because jobs are at risk, induced and the possibility of development for the future as it has been repeatedly denounced by the Aeronautics Cocer to protect the staff. Furthermore, going abroad to do what we could peacefully do at home with very high economic and social benefits would represent a real oxymoron and a regional political attitude totally in contrast with the policies of optimization and rationalization of available resources.
The issue is entirely in the hands of the politics of the Sardinia Region and the trade union parties are not exempt from responsibility. Everyone has to deal with what is happening.
Where other Italian and foreign regions are competing to grab investments, in Sardinia politics increasingly tends towards a disengagement on this strategic issue.
Despite everything, the Air Force, as well as the other Armed Forces, has the duty to train to ensure compliance with the institutional defense duties of the country imposed by the Constitution.
A disengagement of military workers from Sardinia would lead, as regards the Air Force alone, first of all to concrete disadvantages linked to the 1200 permanent workers and the 70 million euros of salaries, goodbye indemnities to municipalities, goodbye to the employment of external companies, goodbye thousands of jobs, goodbye Sardinian soldiers transferred elsewhere.
Finally, there is the question of important services to the community, such as the management of all civil air traffic to the Elmas airport, the meteorological service, the helicopter rescue service (SAR) and the delicate fire service of which no one has yet said how they would be replaced.
A social disaster of immense proportions reinforced by the fact that ad today there are no alternative employment solutions capable of guaranteeing the same number of workers employed and the same economic impact currently operating.
This was declared by the national delegate of the Cocer interforces Antonsergio Belfiori
