Resigning F-35 to Decimomannu, continuous training towards full operational capability of the system

(To air Force)
08/02/19

Six F-35A aircraft and a team composed of pilots and maintainers of the 32 ° Stormo dell'Aeronautica Militare have risked these days in the Department of Support and Standardization of Aircraft Shooting (RSSTA) of Decimomannu (Cagliari) for a training cycle advanced approximately three weeks.

The training activity will allow the pilots of the 13 ° Amendola Group to consolidate the experience gained in the numerous operational capabilities already achieved with the new aircraft, including those related to its use in the surveillance service of the airspace, and to continue the path for the achievement of the full operational capacity of the F-35A weapon system, the primary objective after the Initial Operational Capability (IOC) achieved last November at the TLP 4th Flying Course on the Pugliese air base.

During the course of the risk will be carried out various types of training missions, both day and night, in coordination with the RSSTA of Decimomannu and the Polygon Interforze of Salto di Quirra. Thanks to the so-called omnirol characteristics of the new weapon system, which characterize it as a 5 generation platform compared to the multirole ones of previous generations, in particular for the unique capabilities of the new aircraft in terms of data collection and management ( sensor fusion), it is possible to simultaneously express in flight the whole range of aero-tactical capabilities in the past necessarily carried out with more types of aircraft. The pilots can then train, during the same flight, a wide range of missions, including combat with other aircrafts (air-to-air), simulation of engagement with precision armament of objectives on the ground, ISR activity (Intelligence, Surveillance And Recconoiscence) for data collection to support operations, support activities close to land and sea forces, electronic warfare. 

The training missions will be carried out at quotas and in dedicated airspace portions, within which - through sophisticated simulation technologies the aircraft is equipped with - it will be possible for pilots to train also in tactics and procedures for air combat and engagement precision of objectives on the ground, but without providing for the use and release of any type of armament. In fact, everything will be reproduced by on-board computer thanks to which will be presented to the pilots during the mission the different types of threats according to the operational scenarios that will be simulated from time to time, and always in a computerized way the pilot can train to face and neutralize threats effectively.

Among other things, the capabilities of virtual and embedded training (simulator training and virtual training on board the aircraft itself) allow you to train in complete safety on all procedures, tactics and development of the potential of the weapon system, as well as allowing a substantial reduction in costs.