Real and training activity for the protection of national interests
May 16, 2021
In recent days, as part of the GABINIA Operation, the Luigi Rizzo ship has guaranteed the safety of the “SAIPEM 10000” oil drilling unit.
The freighter, which is part of the Saipem fleet, operates all over the world in on-shore and off-shore areas, sometimes even particularly hostile, and carries out important drilling campaigns on behalf of the well-known Italian oil company. At the time of the activity with Nave RIZZO, SAIPEM 10000 was engaged in repositioning operations for subsequent exploration of the marine subsoil off the coast of Ghana. It is, therefore, a delicate activity for the entire national energy sector, with inevitable repercussions also on the European economy.
And it is precisely on the occasion of this joint navigation that the Italian companies and the Navy wanted to verify the national alarm chain. In an extremely realistic scenario, off the Ghanaian coast, an attempt to seize the oil unit by a group of pirates was simulated, following which the national alarm sequence was activated and, therefore, the intervention. FREMM by SH-90 helicopter. At the same time, from on board the aircraft, the intervention team of the Marina San Marco Brigade ensured protection, support and assistance. A precious joint event that is part of the training windows periodically conducted by the Command in Chief of the Naval Squad, in order to ensure a high level of operational readiness, as required by the primary tasks entrusted to it, namely the defense of the vital interests of the Country, especially in an area plagued by the growing phenomenon of piracy.
