In June, the Italian contingent of the operation First Parthica (Italian National Contingent Command Land / ITNCC-L) under the orders of Colonel Stefano Salvadori, has started the activities of folding in Italy the employee "Rotary Wing Detachment" helicopter detachment based on NH-90 and the related personnel of the Army Aviation Italian (AVES) located in the Iraqi airport of Ayn al Asad.
The helicopter detachment, established in May 2022 and part of the IT NCC-L Airmobile Task Group "Griffon" employee, concluded its mandate in support of the NATO mission commander, Army Corps General Giovanni Maria Iannucci, who led the Atlantic Alliance (NATO) mission in Iraq for 12 months.
The folding of the helicopter detachment, located in the Ayn al Asad airport about 160 km west of Baghdad in the governorate of Al Anbar, represented a challenging and synergy moment in the planning, coordination and conduct of both the functional areas of the contingent Italian and of the command line of the units involved.
As a premise of the withdrawal, the role of the Joint Operational Command (COVI) was decisive, which directed the "Technical Arrangements" of the agreements with the Spanish counterpart (incoming for the fulfillment of the tasks assigned up to last May within NATO to the Italy) in the transfer of infrastructures and providing the necessary coordination for the return to Italy or in the redeployment of means, materials and men.
The withdrawal activity, in the conducted phase, was made possible with the use of civil cargo aircraft of the Antonov AN 124 type and C130J aircraft of the Italian Air Force.
The synergy provided by the approximately 300 men and women of the contingent has made it possible to guarantee, without interruption, the resumption and increase of the training activities of the post Covid phase with diversified courses in response to the needs represented both by the authorities of the Peshmerga affairs ministry in Autonomous Region of Kurdistan (with 5 different courses in favor of Peshmerga and Zeravani) both by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and Interior for the Iraqi Security Forces (Iraqi Federal Police)
The activities carried out in the operational theater are carried out under the coordination and according to the directives given by the joint operational command (COVI), which is the high command of Defense responsible for planning, coordinating and directing military operations, national joint exercises and multinationals and related activities.
