Il carrier strike groups (CSG) Italian - 31st Naval Group, composed of the aircraft carrier Cavour, from the frigate Alpino and, from 16 August, from the Multipurpose Combat Ship Raimondo Montecuccoli, returned to Taranto today after completing the first operational campaign in a region not usually used for Navy ships: the Indo-Pacific.
The three naval units entered the Mar Grande Naval Station after 152 days (of which 101 at sea) of activity and after having covered approximately 77 thousand nautical miles touching 18 ports in 14 different nations.
The crews were welcomed by the Chief of Staff of the Defence, General Luciano Portolano and the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Enrico Credendino, accompanied by the Commander in Chief of the naval fleet, Admiral Aurelio De Carolis, who was on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Cavour They wanted to testify with their presence the strategic importance, for the Navy and for the Defense, of the campaign just concluded.
“The importance of the operational and training activities in which you have taken part have served to increase interoperability, interconnectivity, interchangeability in complex contexts and the capabilities of the Defence to operate in a joint and combined environment to strengthen the level of cooperation with friendly and allied countries", it's still, “All this has been possible thanks to your deep commitment, your professionalism and expertise but above all to the support you constantly receive from your families, to whom I ask to extend my gratitude." thus General Portolano during his speech.
"The technical-operational, logistical and naval diplomacy capabilities that we have deployed have been the object of unanimous admiration throughout the world. This is the result of teamwork that has involved all our branches, a feather in our cap that I feel it is my duty to share with all those who in various capacities, on the front line and behind the scenes, have worked hard to make it all possible, making sacrifices and sometimes throwing their heart and soul into making it happen. A special thanks to the crews who conducted the activity and to the families who supported this onerous commitment", thus Admiral Credendino during his speech.
Numerous and important, many of which strategic for Defense, the objectives achieved by the CSG at its first activation. Under the command of Rear Admiral Giancarlo Ciappina, the national aircraft carrier group worked to promote and strengthen Italy's presence in the Indo-Pacific region by making the most of its strong projection capabilities by cooperating, and in some cases also integrating, air and naval assets of allied and partner navies, thus improving interoperability and interchangeability at the same time. During the campaign, which also represented an important and impressive naval diplomacy operation, every useful opportunity was sought to promote national excellence in the "Sistema Italia" perspective without ever losing sight of the protection of the security of international spaces and freedom of navigation. Last, but not least, the important objective, also achieved ahead of schedule, of the Initial Operational Capacity (IOC) of the F-35B embarked air component. This is also a fundamental step for the position that Italy holds, as the only nation in the European Union capable of expressing a credible sea projection capability based on 5th generation aircraft. In the path that led to the declaration of the IOC, the collaboration with the Italian Air Force, whose aircraft, pilots and specialists operated from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, was fundamental and constructive Cavour in an effective, synergic and interchangeable manner, to consolidate the national expeditionary sea based capacity of 5a generation.
During the 5-month campaign, the CSG interacted with air and naval assets of navies such as France, Spain, Greece, Germany, Japan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Oman, provided support to the NATO NOBLE SHIELD and European ASPIDES and ATALANTA operations, trained with the naval units assigned to the NATO SNMG2 device (standing NATO maritime group 2) and with the carrier strike groups US-led aircraft carriers Dwight Eisenhower e Abraham Lincoln and participated, for the first time, in the Australian exercise of a purely aeronautical nature Pitch black 24 and to the exercises, with a stronger maritime connotation, Noble Raven, in the waters off Japan, and Noble Wolf 1 e 2 in the Pacific Ocean. The training opportunity held in the waters off the Indian port of Goa with the local Navy, which was present at sea with the aircraft carrier, was also extremely rewarding. Vikramaditya and its embarked aircraft as further confirmation of the interoperability characteristics of the Italian CSG.
On board the 3 naval units, over a thousand crew members, integrated by the personnel of the marine brigade Saint Mark for Force Protection activities and by the Divers of the operating group divers (GOS) of the underwater command and raiders (COMSUBIN) also specialized in the EOD-IEDD sector (Explosive Ordnance Disposal - Improvised Explosive Device Disposal). From the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Cavour 8 F-35Bs operated almost daily, 2 of which were from the Italian Air Force and 7 AV-8B+ Harrier.
The campaign also proved to be a useful opportunity to make Nave's healthcare capabilities available to the community. Cavour. A medical team, composed of health personnel from the Navy and volunteer surgeons from the Smile House ETS Foundation, performed maxillofacial and reconstructive surgery on 17 patients in the ports of Manila and Goa that were difficult or untreatable for local health facilities.
Mission accomplished!
