The Italian and US 5th generation aircraft operated from the Italian aircraft carriers Cavour and the English Queen Elizabeth.
An important international exercise was held on Sunday 21 November, in the central Mediterranean, involving the Cavour aircraft carrier of the Navy and F-35B aircraft of the Navy and the Air Force, together with a British naval group led by the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth, on which US Marine Corps F-35Bs also operated.
The event took place in the presence of the Chief of Defense Staff, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, accompanied for the occasion by the Navy Chief of Staff, Team Admiral Enrico Credendino and by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General of Squadra Aerea Luca Goretti.
The aerial activity aboard the Cavour aircraft carrier, carried out in full synergy between the Navy and the Air Force, represents a milestone in the development of the national ability to project from the sea the potential offered by the new fifth generation aircraft, the F-35Bs.
Admiral Cavo Dragone, congratulating the Navy and Air Force personnel involved in the activity, highlighted how “in addition to the excellent capabilities already achieved by the Air Force F-35As, both in the operational field and in real operations, the Today’s exercise represents a strong impetus in the process of developing the national air projection capacity from the sea, with the integration of fifth generation joint aerotactic multirole aircraft, allowing our country to be the only one able to guarantee this contribution within the Union European “. In conclusion, “the synergies between the Navy and the Air Force in the use of F-35Bs on board the aircraft carrier will also be achieved in use from the ground, operating jointly in operational situations where suitable landing strips for conventional aircraft are not available”.
“For the Air Force the ability to place on aircraft carriers is an element that amplifies and integrates the expeditionary capacity of the Armed Force”, declared Air Force Chief of Staff, Air Squad General Luca Goretti. “Activities of this kind, as part of the Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) capability, allow training to operate in operational contexts and on short runways and demonstrate how much the new 5th generation aircraft, thanks to its versatility of employment, is a fundamental asset for the Armed Force and for the Defense to ensure the projection of forces in crisis areas “.
In the interaction with the British aircraft carrier, thanks to the high level of interoperability achieved, two Italian F-35Bs are docked on the Queen Elizabeth and at the same time two US Marine Corps F-35Bs, embarked on the English ship, are docked on the Italian aircraft carrier Cavour. The interaction also saw further in-flight training activity with the involvement of F-35Bs taking off from the two aircraft carriers, which carried out a demanding air combat mission. In addition to the success of the joint activities carried out by the Navy and Air Force aircraft on board Nave Cavour, today’s interaction with the British aircraft carrier group has made it possible to successfully test the joint technical-operational procedures aimed at achieving full interoperability between the two Marines.
For the Air Force, as mentioned, the event constituted a further step within the numerous training activities that the Armed Force has organized, or in which it has taken part in recent months to implement expeditionary capabilities and test the capacity to project, with very short notice, an adequate package of forces in an area of interest even far from the mother country and in a semi-permissive environment. This, for example, was the objective of the “Proof of Concept Expeditionary” exercise, an event designed to summarize the main and peculiar projection capabilities of the forces that the Air Force is able to express today in the service of Defense and of the country, which was held in July 2020 on the island of Pantelleria. With the activity carried out, a new page opens where interoperability and the concept of Joint and Combined synergy between the Armed Forces are concrete facts in respect of the particular specificities towards an effective military instrument at the service of the country and of the community, including international.