"Today is an important day for the Italian Air Force", declared Air Force Chief of Staff, Air Squad General Alberto Rosso, during the meeting with the press on the occasion of the 4th Flying Course of the Tactical Leaderhip Program being held in Amendola. "With the achievement of the Initial Operational Capability of our F-35s we are able to express - first in Europe - a real operational capacity with a 5th generation machine, which means the capacity of a system consisting of several aircraft, by crews trained to use them, as maintenance and logistic support sustainable over time. We must be proud of this goal, achieved thanks to the work of those who preceded us and of those who every day - with commitment, heart and passion - made it possible to achieve incredible results, even in advance of what was expected.".
"An important day - underlined the gen. Red - also for the meaning of this TLP Course, which represents the first concrete integration between 4th and 5th generation weapon systems and an important opportunity to grow and develop together with other nations the essential capabilities that aero-space power must be able to express internationally. Amendola is today an excellence for Defense and for the Country System as it contains a series of projection capabilities towards the future that are unique in Europe. This Stormo best represents the generational leap we are experiencing, in which the determining factor is the integration between technology and the human element, both in the training and operational fields.".
The achievement of the IOC certifies the wide operational versatility of the F-35 of the Italian Air Force, the first European Air Force to achieve this goal. The F-35 is a weapon system designed to deal with diversified types of air operations, capable of receiving and redistributing an extraordinary flow of data essential to achieve information superiority, a key element of modern complex operations.
After the arrival of the first specimen at the 32nd Wing, which took place on 12 December 2016, the Air Force launched a tight program to reach the operational capacity of the 5th generation platform through incremental stages. From the first flight over the Amendola airfield on 11 January 2017, the first flight to another military airport took place after only one month. In October of the same year, with the participation in the most important national joint-force exercise of the year "Vega 2017", the F-35 worked alongside the assets of the Armed Forces, providing an extremely important contribution that made it possible to appreciate the extraordinary operational potential that the aircraft is able to offer. The subsequent integration with all the national and NATO command and control systems, as well as with all the other weapon systems and the further insertion of the asset within the alarm device for the Air Defense of the national airspace are some of the most important goals achieved. To complete the range of operational capabilities offered by the aircraft, training activities were carried out at the Polygone electronic warfare range, in Germany, and the training campaign for air / ground use in the national field.
Participation in the TLP, NATO's focal point in the field of joint tactical training of Allied air forces, represents a very important achievement achieved in the process of integrating the F-35 into the international operational context in the context of complex aerial operations. All activities that testify to the exceptional potential and adaptability to the most diverse contexts of the F-35, a fighter that can in fact be defined omni-role, that is able to simultaneously express numerous operational capabilities, placing it as a strategic asset for the Defense and indispensable in conducting modern operations. The use of the aircraft also represents a capacity amplifier for all the other weapon systems available in the Defense and Coalition fields which, working in synergy with an 5 generation aircraft, acquire a renewed topicality, raising their operational potential.
The 4th Flying Course TLP: first time with the F-35s
The 4th TLP Flying Course of 2018, in which over 900 military personnel and 50 aircraft assets from five countries take part, kicked off last November 19th at the Amendola air base (FG) and will continue until December 14th. The purpose of the Flying Courses - four are organized every year, usually at the Spanish base of Albacete - is in particular to train future Mission Commanders (mission commanders) through specific training in complex air operations in which interactions between multinational air, naval and land forces. This session, which takes place in Italy and in which the F-35s participate for the first time, constitutes a further step in a perspective of transition towards weapon systems and technologies characteristic of 5th Generation aircraft, in an environment with high international connotation and joint forces.
Different assets of the Air Force taking part: F-35, which as mentioned are the novelty of this session, Eurofighter, T-346A, G-550 CAEW, KC-767A, P-72A, HH-101 and HH helicopters -212 and remotely piloted assets (MQ-1C and MQ-9A), in addition to the IT-DARS mobile command and control system, the SIRIUS Surface Based Air Defense (SBAD) system and Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) specialized personnel. All participating aircraft assets are deployed on the Amendola base, with the exception of the Tanker KC-767A, which operates directly from Pratica di Mare, and the HH-212, deployed instead in Gioia del Colle. Trapani airport is used instead as a deployment base for NATO E-3A Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACS). In addition to the assets of the AM, AV-8B of the Navy participate. Large foreign participation, with over 700 soldiers of different nationalities involved and different aircraft assets, including American F-15C and KC-135, German F-2000, Tornado ECR and Jamkite, Belgian F-16 and Dutch F-16 and AWACS BORN.
The TLP (Tactical Leadership Program) of Albacete (Spain) is an international military organization to which 10 nations currently belong (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Great Britain and the United States), which represents today the reference center in NATO in the field of joint aero-tactical training and in the development of leadership skills, essential to face the challenges posed by modern operational scenarios.
