The Italian Air Force at the forefront of sustainable aviation
On Thursday, July 31, 2025 at the Pratica di Mare airport, a T-346A aircraft of the Experimental Flight Department (R.S.V.) of the Air Division of Aeronautical and Space Experimentation (D.A.S.A.S.) carried out a technical demonstration flight at the conclusion of the first phase of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel project – National Aerobatic Team – “S.A.F. P.A.N.”, as part of a collaboration with Enilive and with Eni’s Research and Development.
The activities were organized and coordinated by the Air Experimentation Division of the Air Force Logistics Command with the contribution of the Directorate of Aeronautical Armaments and Airworthiness and in collaboration with Leonardo.
The project is developed in compliance with the entry into force of the ReFuel EU Aviation Regulation (Fit for 55), which starting from 2025 requires aviation fuel suppliers to guarantee increasing shares of environmentally sustainable components (Sustainable Aviation Fuels – S.A.F) in Jet Fuel to be made available to aircraft operators in European Union airports.
The fuel used during the test contains 30% SAF, was made with 100% renewable raw materials in the Enilive biorefinery in Gela, in line with the technical requirements defined by the Aeronautical and Space Materials Technologies Department (R.T.M.A.S.), and Leonardo, as manufacturer of the T-346A, has previously verified its compatibility with the aircraft’s fuel systems for aviation safety.
The mixture obtained was also verified by means of radiocarbon analysis by the ppqSense Laboratories for the exact determination of the biogenic content.
The verification of compliance with technical regulations of the fuel for the introduction into the logistics cycle of the F.A. was carried out at the 2nd Technical Control Laboratory of Fiumicino (RM) in coordination with the Department of Technical Operational Services (R.S.T.O.) of the D.A.S.A.S. and then tested in flight on the T-346A aircraft, the new Leonardo Trainer that will replace the current MB339 of the National Aerobatic Team-Frecce Tricolori.
Although the “ReFuelEU Aviation” does not formally apply to the FFAA, in fact the supply chain of military aircraft is strongly interconnected with that of civil aviation; for this reason it is strategic for the FA to maintain the possibility of refueling military aircraft at dual-use airport infrastructures, i.e. both military and civil, where it is not logistically possible to manage separate lines for SAF fuel and conventional fuel of fossil origin.
The flight test represents the culmination of the integration process that combines the Air Force’s need to undertake a path of alignment with the European legislation on SAF to increase the strategic-operational capacity in full compliance with environmental sustainability and the new progressively more sustainable fuel production strategies launched by Enilive.
The Air Division of Aeronautical and Space Experimentation brings together, under a single command, all the study and experimentation bodies of the Air Force. The Division is the main consulting body of the Armed Forces and the Defense Administration for flight tests of aircraft and weapon systems, the analysis and chemical-physical evaluation of structural and consumable materials, training and experimentation in the field of aerospace medicine, the management of operational software and the operational verification of weapon systems. The D.A.S.A.S. also provides technical-logistical and operational support to the Air Force and other Armed Forces and Armed Corps of the State that insist on the grounds and manages, through the Air Terminal Operation Center (A.T.O.C.), flights intended for operations outside national borders. The airport of Pratica di Mare is the first Italian military air base for traffic and aircraft movements and is also the only national military health entry point.
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