It ended today, in the Central Mediterranean, in the presence of the Chief of Defense Staff, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, accompanied for the occasion by the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Team Admiral Enrico Credendino and by the Chief of Staff of the Aeronautics, air squad general Luca Goretti, an important international activity involving the Italian naval group led by the aircraft carrier Cavour, operating with Navy and Air Force F-35B aircraft, and a British naval group led by the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, also operating with F-35B.
Air activity aboard the aircraft carrier Cavour, carried out in full synergy between the Navy and the Air Force, represents a milestone in the development of the national capacity for projection from the sea of the potential offered by the new fifth generation aircraft, the F-35Bs.
Ship Cavour, fresh from a recent campaign in the United States where he carried out an intense training activity and aimed at certifying his flight deck for new aircraft, has shown that he can develop, together with its embarked air component, a niche capacity in the non European only.
Admiral Cavo Dragone, congratulating the Navy and Air Force personnel involved in the activity, highlighted how "in addition to the excellent capabilities already achieved by the Air Force's F-35As, both in the operational field and in real operations, today's exercise represents a strong impetus in the process of developing the national air projection capability from the sea, with the integration of fifth generation joint air force multirole aircraft, allowing our country to be the only one able to guarantee this contribution within the European Union ".
In conclusion, "The synergies between the Navy and the Air Force in the use of the F-35Bs on board the aircraft carrier will also be achieved in the use from the ground, operating jointly in operational situations where suitable landing strips for conventional aircraft are not available".
In the interaction with the British aircraft carrier, thanks to the high level of interoperability achieved, two Italian F-35Bs are stationed on the Queen Elizabeth and at the same time two F-35Bs of the US Marine Corps, embarked on the English ship, are stationed on the Italian aircraft carrier Cavour. The interaction also saw further training activity in flight with the involvement of F-35Bs that took off from the two aircraft carriers, which carried out a demanding air combat mission.
In addition to the success of the joint activities carried out by the Navy and Air Force aircraft on board the Nave Cavour, today's interaction with the British aircraft carrier group has made it possible to successfully test the joint technical - operational procedures aimed at achieving full interoperability between the two Navies.
