The NATO operation of Interim Air Policing called Northern Ligtning.
For the first time a fifth-generation fighter will be employed on a mission Air Policing, giving Italy the privilege of being the first Alliance country to use the F-35 aircraft in a NATO operation.
In fact, there will be six F-35 fighters, coming from the 32 ° Stormo di Amendola, which will have the task of preserving the integrity of NATO airspace, strengthening the surveillance activity of the skies of Iceland which does not possess the capabilities and facilities for autonomous air defense.
The assets of the Air Force will therefore ensure the surveillance of Icelandic airspace for about three weeks, in the meantime conducting joint training activities with the staff of the Icelandic Coast Guard.
Task Force Air (TFA) 32nd Wing, set up on the Keflavik Air Base (ISL) will report directly to the Joint Forces Operations Command (COI) and will be constituted, in addition to the Task Group Lightning, also by technical and logistical personnel and by a team of Air Defense Controllers from the Poggio Renatico Air Operations Command. These, in coordination with the Icelandic Coast Guard, will ensure the functions of air defense, from surveillance and identification to the control of interceptors in the Area of Responsibility (AOR - Area of Responsability) as well as connections with the Combined Air Operation Center (CAOC). by Udem.
To guarantee the necessary security framework, a team will also be employed, consisting of personnel from the 16 Stormo "Air Fuciliers" of the Air Force of Martina Franca (TA), which will be assisted by "Force Protection" personnel of the 32 ° Stormo.
The contribution provided by other departments of the Armed Force which guaranteed the deployment of the TFA was important. The 46 ^ Air Brigade of Pisa and the 14 ° Stormo of Pratica di Mare, thanks to the use of the C-130J and KC 767 carriers, carried out the transport of personnel and material, also guaranteeing the refueling in flight to the F-35 aircraft and the 41 ° Stormo di Sigonella that with the P-72 patrol vessel carried out the important task of oceanic SAR (Search And Rescue) ensuring the foreseen safety frame in the crossing to Iceland.
As in any redeployment, the personnel of the departments employed by the 3 Division of Logistics Command, intervened by preparing the necessary equipment to cover and organize the large and fundamental sector of telecommunications and flight assistance.
The Italian Air Force participates continuously in Interim Air Policing in Albania since 2009, in Slovenia since 2004, in Montenegro since 2018, while she has already been involved in Iceland four times since 2013.
L'Air Policing (AP) is a capability that NATO has endowed itself with since the mid-XNUMXs and consists in the integration into a single NATO air and missile defense system of the respective and similar national systems made available by member countries. The activity of Air Policing has been conducted since peacetime and consists in the continuous surveillance and identification of all violations to the integrity of NATO airspace that are faced by taking the appropriate actions to counter them, such as the rapid take-off of interceptor fighter aircraft, the so called scramble.
The AP is carried out within the area of responsibility of the NATO Allied Command Operation (ACO) based in Brussels and is coordinated by the Headquarters Allied Air Command in Ramstein (GER ).
