During the ceremony, Colonel Elio Volpari, commander of the Air Djibouti Task Force, said he was satisfied with the significant and important objectives achieved in the skies of East Africa.
"The result obtained by the Task Force Air Djibouti - said Colonel Volpari - was achieved thanks to the professionalism and dedication of the staff who, even at over 4500 km from home, operated without interruption to maintain high efficiency and the effectiveness of the Predator weapon system allowing the achievement of over 300 hours of flight over the waters of the Horn of Africa ".
The TFA deployed in Djibouti since August 06 2014 has operated under the EUNAVFOR mission called "Atalanta", an EU operation to combat maritime piracy developed in the waters of the Somali basin and the Horn of Africa to the detriment of maritime trade and ships of the World Food Program. The operation saw the participation of naval and air assets of the navies and aeronautics of numerous European countries, included in the Combined Task Force 465, under Italian leadership in the past six months just passed.
The remotely piloted aircraft of the Air Force 32 ° Stormo, classified in the 'ATLANTE' Task Group of the Air Djibouti Task Force have been used in ISR missions for the collection of "information, reconnaissance and surveillance" at sea and on the land, in the places where pirate cells operate, in order to guarantee the safety of ships and merchant ships in transit in the Gulf of Aden.
The capabilities and the high technological level of the Predator weapon system allow to carry out missions of high operational value that were conducted, depending on the tasks received, in Line-Of-Sight with local management of the mission by the crews present in Djibouti and in Beyond Line-Of-Sight mode with the involvement of men and vehicles of the Air Force present in the Amendola airport (FG), via satellite connection.
Source: Task Force Air Djibouti - Djibouti - ten. Gianluca Manni
