First intense month of activity for the Eurofighter fighters of the Air Force deployed in Romania as part of the NATO mission of Air Policing.
The main mission of redeployment, which takes the name of Task Force 4th Wing, is to contribute to the defense of Romania's airspace, helping to monitor the Black Sea area in particular.
The Italian Eurofighters operate in a context of Enhanced Air Policing, assisting the air defense service that Romania currently guarantees with its own air force (Fortaele Aeriene Romane) through the use of Mig-21 aircraft.
In this first month of mission, the Italian Eurofighters also participated in the international Thracian Star exercise in Bulgaria, carrying out cooperation missions with Bulgarian Mig-29, Greek F16, F16 and Romanian MIG 21 in order to optimize and standardize operational procedures between the different countries of the Atlantic Alliance.
As part of the mission in Romania, training activities were then carried out almost daily together with the Romanian Mig-21 Lancer, L39 and F-16 and American F-16 assets of the 457th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, as well as with the ground forces of the US component. In particular, in recent days, as evidence of the different capabilities that the Eurofighter aircraft is able to express, the pilots have carried out exercise missions of close support to the ground troops (CAS - Close Air Support) with the soldiers of the American Army who they trained for Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) activities.
The activity made it possible to implement the synergy between the various assets, proving to be useful for testing the technical, tactical and operational procedures. The activities of indoctrination in favor of Romanian technical personnel to operate on Eurofighter aircraft in the event of an emergency landing on an alternate airport are also framed among the opportunities for discussion and training between the Italian personnel deployed and personnel of the Romanian air force, joint intervention with firefighting vehicles, as well as the moments of operational confrontation at the Air Operation Center in Balotesti, in southern Romania, which is entrusted with the tactical control of in-flight assets.
The over 150 flight hours made in the first month of the mission once again confirmed the operational flexibility and the effective multi-role capability of the Eurofighter, able to successfully complete a wide range of missions.
