From the base of Naquora which is also the headquarters of the Unifil command, currently in the hands of General Paolo Serra, Italair's vehicles are able to take off in less than 30 minutes from the alarm signal that may eventually arrive, to arrive as quickly as possible on the theaters in which their intervention is required.
Many services that Italair, under the guidance of Colonel Giacomo Lipari, can guarantee, 24 hours on 24, thanks also to the use of night vision systems. They range from Casevac / Medevac activities to reconnaissance and observation, to the transport of personnel and materials, to training in favor of Unifil personnel, to firefighting.
The Casevac and Medevac activities are among the most important in those operating theaters where the war has completely upset the local social and health structures or where the state of the road arteries does not allow a quick and safe transport of the wounded. The health activities conducted by Italair are aimed at both the population and the military.
Medevac (medical evacuation) is the technical military term used to define a series of actions aimed at clearing the wounded from the area of operations. Casevac (casualties evacuation), is the eviction of wounded personnel with circumstantial means.
In the current Lebanese scenario, for the sanitary clearing chain to rely on the use of rotating wing means, it guarantees the possibility of considerably shortening the transport time, so that those in need of care can receive them as soon as possible.
Italair holds, among other things, an important record: it is in fact the Italian army unit that has been used abroad for the longest time.
For over thirty years, so many missions have been carried out and many, unfortunately, the fallen of the 42esimo task group. In the Naquoura base, a monument (below) recalls the crew of the AB-205 helicopter that in August 1997 died during a night mission.
Daniela Lombardi
(photo of the author)
