September 21 will be held at the Sigonella base, home of the 41 ° Stormo Antisom, the farewell ceremony at the historic Breguet P-1150 aircraft Atlantic, replaced by the new P-72A aircraft, which will be officially presented during the ceremony.
The ceremony will be attended by the top management of the Navy and Air Force, together with the highest industrial and regional authorities of the provinces of Catania and Syracuse, in whose reality the Sigonella airport has always been deeply integrated. The Atlantic aircraft, which leaves the Air Force flight line after 45 years of service and over 250.000 flight hours, has taken part in all recent national maritime surveillance operations in the Mediterranean Sea, such as "Mare Nostrum" and "Mare Safe" thanks to the daily work of mixed flight crews made up of members of the Navy and the Air Force.
The P-72A is an all-weather maritime patrol vessel, developed by the ATR72-600 for the civilian market and then modified with specific devices and sensors to perform its tasks in the military field and represents an interim solution aimed at covering the capacitive gap up to moment in which it will be possible to equip a Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircarft that also has ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) capabilities. The new structure has already been put to the test, providing its contribution at the G7 in Taormina in May. Like his predecessor, he is assigned to the Air Force and employed by the Navy: on board mixed crews of the two Armed Forces operate in full harmony between the forces, consolidated in almost fifty years of operational activity on theAtlantic. Enhanced discovery capabilities, prolonged autonomy, and low-altitude flying attitudes make it crucial for patrols and surveillance of operational theaters and national security, as well as for research missions and relief for the protection of human life at sea. The net-centric capacity of P-72A also contributes to creating a persistent surveillance capability to support the country's security and defense needs.
The 41 ° Stormo Antisom of the Military Air Force of Sigonella is a real operational reality in the field of Italian Defense.
This specificity has represented, since 1965, an example of synergy and co-operation so as to receive the 28 March 2007, the President of the Republic, the Silver Medal for Civil Merit as a recognition for the meritorious and unremitting work performed by the Department during the period from 1990 at 2005 for the protection of maritime traffic and the search and rescue of refugees and shipwrecks in the Mediterranean area.
