The "Combat Controllers" arrived in Italy, the raiders with the ability to control air traffic. The Air Force is the first and only Italian armed force to have them.
That of the "Combat Controller" is a professional figure born in the United States, in the US Air Force. It is a ground unit that intervenes in hostile territory to free an airport occupied by the enemy force and capable of using the control tower to allow the subsequent landing of aircraft.
The ability of the raiders to work as a team, to make important decisions quickly and to reach a goal in the shortest possible time, has allowed four men of the special forces of the AM to successfully complete the first "Visual Airport" course. held at the Air Space Control Training Department of Pratica di Mare, acquiring the qualification of "Combat Controller".
The course ended last Thursday and was created to meet the needs of the 17 ° Stormo Incursori, a department engaged in all those activities that characterize the Italian special forces, maintaining its nature as a strategic tool multiplier of the national Air Power in a an ever-changing international operational context characterized by an “asymmetric” threat. This area requires highly specialized and trained personnel able to respond promptly to any type of operational requirement.
During the 15-week course, the attendees carried out a very intense training program in accordance with national legislation and ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) necessary to be able to achieve through theoretical lessons held in the classroom and practical tests carried out on simulators, the quality standards required to be able to operate in a control tower and manage the aircraft on sight.
The presence of this course has also allowed the department to try new complex air traffic management scenarios using, among other things, the recently modernized simulators.
The RACSA, dependent on the 9 Air Brigade "Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance - Electronic Warfare" (ISTAR - EW), is the training agency of the Italian Air Force which has the task of training the official and non-commissioned personnel of all the Armed Forces responsible for air traffic control, air defense and meteorology. The department also carries out the assessment of the technical English proficiency test "Technical Proficiency Test" (TPT) required by the TA / DA (Air Traffic / Air Defense) controllers to perform the Airspace management functions.
