Wednesday 7 December, the laboratory Tactical Personnel Recovery Mission Simulator (TPRMS) of theEuropean Defense Agency (EDA), following the acquisition of Initial Operational Capability on November 18 of last year, it reached full operational capability (Full Operational Capability – FOC).
A ceremony at the air base of aerospace operations command (COA) of Poggio Renatico, chaired by the commander of theItalian Air Warfare Centre of the COA, Colonel Mauro Gabetta, by a representative of the 3rd department of the SMA and by the representatives of the EDA, sealed this important milestone.
The TPRMS FOC event was organized in conjunction with the 42nd EDA PTPR Meeting (Project Team Personnel Recovery) and saw the participation of PR experts from ten countries (Italy, United States, Romania, France, Germany, Hungary, Holland, Austria, Cyprus and Sweden) and various International Organizations with solid experience in personnel recovery (theEuropean Personnel Recovery Center/EPRC, the Joint Air Power Coordination Centre/JAPCC, the CAOC UDEM, the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency/JPRA and theAir Operations Center Excellence/ CASPOA).
The program, called Tactical Personnel Recovery Mission Simulator (TPRMS), was launched in April 2019 with the aim of creating a technological demonstrator available to the EDA nations that allows to evaluate the validity of Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) with the help of virtual reality (VR), through the use of a software dedicated to military simulation (Virtual Battle Space – VBS4 by the company Bohemia Interactive Simulations, one of the leaders in the sector).
The design and installation of the TPRMS is funded by the European Defense Agency and managed jointly between the Air Force Staff and theItalian Air Warfare Centre (IT AWC) of the AOC, making Italy a host nation and the Air Force as a leader in future implementations of the project (Host Nation / Lead Nation).
The realization of this project demonstrates both the commitment of the EDA in supporting the efforts of the Member States aimed at finding alternative and economic technical solutions that can help fill the recognized training gaps, and the predisposition for innovation of the Air Force, the which has always assigned particular importance to the Personnel Recovery sector - i.e. the ability to identify and recover personnel left isolated in non-permissive environments.
The aerospace operations command (COA) based in Poggio Renatico (FE), ensures, as the command of the air component of the Air Force, the effective use of aerospace power through a process of planning and conducting operations, at home and in the Theaters outside national borders, on the basis of directives and for the level of command and control assigned by the superior authorities. It also represents the sole point of contact of the Air Force for Air Defense, Missile Defense and for the coordination and control of Operational Air Traffic, Search and Rescue missions and military air transport. The COA is also the doctrinal reference point for the use and development of Aerospace power.
