On Tuesday 2 July, the 32 ° Stormo di Amendola (FG) hosted the F-35s of the United States and United Kingdom air forces for joint training activities with the latest generation fighters of the Italian Air Force.
The training activity, divided into two moments, saw two Italian F-35A aircraft engaged during the morning together with a pair of F-35Bs of the 617th Fighter Squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF), taking off from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus; in the afternoon, four Italian F35A aircraft took part in a complex exercise that saw them operate with four F35As of the 421st Fighter Squadron of the US Air Force from Spangdalhem along with other Air Force assets including Eurofighter F-2000A, AMX, T-346A and KC-767A.
Colonel Marzinotto, commander of the 32 ° Stormo, highlighted what the activity represented "An important opportunity to enhance interoperability between the three countries involved: the interaction between Air Forces using the same fifth-generation aircraft allows the sharing of training and operational experiences that guarantee an exceptional added value to consolidate and merge relationships in the 'Atlantic Alliance ".
Upon landing for the morning session, Colonel Butcher, of the Royal Air Force's 617th Fighter Squadron, expressed his satisfaction "For this first redeployment in Italy that allowed us to demonstrate and test the capabilities of the F35 system once again".
"Today was further evidence of the high operational capabilities that F35 of our European allies have proven to possess". These are the words of Lt. col. pilot "Ali" (callsign) of the 421st Fighter Squadron on the sidelines of the joint training event. "The F35 is a technologically advanced and shared system that allows to strengthen NATO's potential in managing the command and control of the Alliance's aerospace power".
Major De Guida, commander of the 13 ° Group of the 32 ° Stormo, expressed his own "Enthusiasm for having had the opportunity to participate in a mission so complex that it would have been impossible to carry out with any other airplane and that, instead, was conducted with extreme simplicity thanks to the high level of maturity of the aircraft, which cannot be considered just a machine but a complex system integrated into the F35 community ".
From a strategic point of view, moreover, the use of the F-35 system through the sharing of logistics and personnel training infrastructures, allows a significant optimization of resources.
All this is part of the fundamental concept of Advanced Logistic Support, an advanced aircraft management system that aims to guarantee maximum availability in terms of efficiency and usage rate, simplifying maintenance processes. The aircraft interfaces with the integrated logistics IT system, called ALIS (Autonomic Logistic Information System), which allows the handling of requests, movements and distribution of spare parts on a global scale.
