An international exercise of air defense to which the Aeronautica Militare takes part along with the air forces of Algeria, France, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia, organizing nation of this edition.
This is a training event that is part of the activities of the "5 + 5 Initiative", an agreement that since 2004 has involved the countries of the western Mediterranean basin to promote cooperation on common security and defense issues such as maritime surveillance, training, civil protection, search and rescue and, indeed, the very crucial issue of surveillance and defense of airspace.
A military transport aircraft, in this case Tunisian, will simulate being a so-called "renegade" civilian aircraft, or - as they are called in technical jargon - those civilian aircraft arriving or transiting the national airspace whose conduct is potentially dangerous for the security as a result of a possible terrorist action. The command and control and radar surveillance centers of the countries affected by the route of the aircraft, as well as the pilots and staff of the air defense bases involved, will have to react in a timely and coordinated manner to intercept and conduct - just as it would in reality - the threat out of national airspace or forced landing at a designated airport, according to directions given by land following established protocols. The objective of the exercise, which is carried out annually (the 2014 edition was an Italian guide), is precisely that of promoting and consolidating the adoption of common procedures in the management of cases of this kind, where the competence remains of the single nations but where it is essential - given the speed and complexity of the interventions required - to act in a coordinated way between neighboring nations.
The phase of the exercise in the Italian airspace will be managed by the Air Operations Command of Poggio Renatico (Ferrara), the command and control center of the Italian Air Force from where the surveillance of the national airspace is guaranteed 24 hours a day and where necessary by where orders for immediate take-off for interceptor fighters leave. Some officers of the same Air Operations Command will instead be in Tunis, inside the cell responsible for the direction of the exercise. In this circumstance, the Eurofighter pilots and fighters of the 24 ° Stormo of Grosseto and of the 4 ° Stormo of Trapani will be ready to take off in a few minutes from the "scramble" order, i.e. immediate take-off on alarm, to intercept and escort outside the borders. the suspect aircraft or at a designated airport, ensuring continuity with the French and later Tunisian air defense assets with a sort of "relay in flight".
All in-flight activities will be conducted within specific areas and training routes, coordinated during the planning phase with the participating countries and with the civil air traffic control bodies. This is not the first exercise of this type, and NATO also regularly carries out the same training and assessment activities as the level of readiness of the integrated air defense system, exercising a possible threat in that military case.
