The ceremony marking the twentieth anniversary of the delivery of the first Eurofighter took place on Monday 18 March in Grosseto, home of the 4th wing of the Air Force. Typhoon F-2000, the aircraft that today represents the backbone of the national air defense, a valuable asset which, with over 200.000 hours flown and 135.000 sorties in Italy and abroad, monitors and defends the skies of Italy and the Atlantic Alliance.
It was March 16, 2004 when the Eurofighter was delivered Typhoon to the 4th wing of Grosseto, the first operational department of the Air Force to receive the aircraft which today represents the backbone of the national air defense. The first aircraft were assigned to the IX Fighter Group and they were received by the then Colonel Alberto Rosso, wing commander and then chief of staff of the Air Force. After a period of transition from the F-104 to the F-2000 and related works to adapt the infrastructure, on 16 December 2005 the 4th wing, under the command of Col. Vittorio Iannotta resumed the Italian airspace surveillance service.
“Remembering today the twentieth anniversary of the delivery of the first F-2000 means remembering an important piece of the history of the Armed Forces and its evolution, as well as the training, operational and industrial cooperation successes” so said the general. by Luigi Del Bene, commander of the combat forces of the Air Force, who continued: “A multi-role aircraft which, thanks to the evolution and continuous updating of new technologies - both software and hardware - is able to always adhere to what are the new operational scenarios today. A system that first allowed a paradigm shift and today a solid integration tool with the 5th generation and with the F-35 aircraft."
THEEuro Fighter is one of the most complex programs in Europe which, strongly marked by close collaboration with other nations and with the national industry, has given rise to a structure, the Typhoon, with significant multi-role capabilities, an operational reference that has tangibly marked the cultural change of an entire Armed Force, in terms of training, safety and quality management.
The Eurofighter Typhoon It is among the most advanced combat aircraft developed on the European continent. It was born from a project of four countries (Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain) which pooled their individual needs in order to create the largest and most ambitious European industrial program. It is a constantly updated weapon system, which allows it to be able to respond to the different challenges posed by the modern geopolitical scenario.
Twenty years after their entry into line, the Eurofighter aircraft, thanks to the women and men of the Armed Forces, have crossed the skies all over the world, operating in crisis theaters, in support of Air Policing of NATO and in complex overseas deployments, such as those that will be carried out first in Alaska with the exercise Red Flag and then in the Indo-Pacific, in Australia, with the exercise Pitch Black.
In operational contexts, in the last three years alone, the F-2000s of the four wings of the Air Force have taken to the skies to carry out real interceptions to safeguard the national skies as many as 50 times. In the latest activities of Air Policing for NATO, in Lithuania and Poland, the Scramble in 2023 there were around 40 in defense of the eastern flank of the Atlantic Alliance.
Colonel Filippo Monti, commander of the 4th wing of Grosseto, said: “Twenty years of Eurofighter, twenty years of an aircraft that is already making the history of our glorious Armed Force on its 101st birthday. A weapon system that required a change in the hearts and minds of the personnel first of the 4th wing and then of the entire Blue Army, which was renewed to keep up with the times and make the Typhoon effective from its very first years of life."
Since 21 February 2024 the F-2000s have been redeployed in Malbork, Poland, with the newly formed Task Force Air 4th Wing employed as part of “Enhanced Air Policing” (eAP) operations until July 2024. The Task Force Air 4th Wing, made up of approximately 150 men and women of the Air Force, is placed under the direct national dependency of COVI with the task of ensuring the control and safeguard of NATO's north-eastern flank. The TFA is equipped with Eurofighter aircraft Typhoon coming from the 4th wing of Grosseto, 36th wing of Gioia del Colle, 37th wing of Trapani and 51st wing of Istrana.
There are 5 wings of the Air Force that ensure national air defense and service Quick Reaction Alert of NATO: four equipped with assets Euro Fighter (the 4th wing of Grosseto, the 36th wing of Gioia del Colle, the 37th wing of Trapani and the 51st wing of Istrana) and one of F-35A aircraft (32nd wing of Amendola).
Furthermore, two operations rooms are also included in the Air Defense system: the 11th DAMI group of Poggio Renatico (FE) and the 22nd DAMI group of Licola (NA), both dependent on the Integrated Missile Air Defense (DAMI) of the aerospace control brigade aerospace operations command (COA). From the two operations rooms, through radar signals that arrive from a network of sensors located throughout the national territory (remote radar squadrons), the controllers responsible for surveillance and hunting guidance operate every day of the year, night and day, to guarantee the defense of Italian airspace and guide the Air Defense assets, providing the information necessary to intercept potential air threats.
