The international exercise "Volpe Bianca 2024" concluded in Alto Adige, which saw the Alpine troops of the Army engaged in mountain and winter environments both in Alta Val Badia and in Val Pusteria from 20 to 23 February, with the use of hundreds of soldiers.
“Volpe Bianca 2024” is the annual “exercise system” dedicated to “Mountain Warfare” in a winter environment organized by the Army Alpine Troops and this year it was made up of three distinct exercises, called “Winter Resolve”, which was already concluded last month in Piedmont, “Ice Patrol” and “Ice Challenge”.
In particular, "Ice Patrol" took place from 20 to 22 February in the upper Val Badia, near Corvara and involved 14 patrols, each made up of eight soldiers, coming from the regiments of the two Alpine brigades, Julia e Taurinense, from the 2nd Alpine Transmission Regiment and one from the Romanian Army. Each patrol was assigned a reconnaissance mission to be completed within 48 hours spanning 3 days on an itinerary of approximately 20 kilometers and 1000 meters of vertical difference in altitude, tackling a series of exercises typical of the Mountain Warfare. The "Ice Patrol" tests included shooting with an individual weapon, the timely transport of an injured person over a route of almost 2 kilometres, and other typically military tests.
The "Ice Challenge", however, took place on 23 February in Alta Val Pusteria between Dobbiaco and San Candido, and is an individual timed competition, which combines a ski mountaineering competition with a shooting competition on a route with overall development of approximately 8 kilometers and a positive difference in altitude of approximately 500 metres.
Overall, "Volpe Bianca 2024" had the aim of verifying the specific abilities possessed by the units of the Alpine troops to operate in the mountains, in a winter environment, difficult to access and characterized by challenging weather conditions which are usually summarized with the term "mountain warfare skills ".
The Alpine troops are part of an Army project aimed at expanding their operational capabilities also in the Arctic environment.
The “Winter Resolve” exercise, part of White Fox and concluded in January in Piedmont, saw a tactical group of the 2nd Alpine Regiment conclude their preparation in preparation for participating in the "Nordic Response" exercise in Norway beyond the Arctic Circle and in which over 20.000 soldiers from the countries of the NATO.
