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Rome. The Italian Eurofighters are the
first to successfully pass NATO’s operational
assessment and they are now ready to be deployed
abroad for peace-keeping and peace-making operations.
This is an excellent result for the Eurofighter
Typhoon, the aircraft designed, developed and
produced by a four-nation consortium whose members
are UK, Germany, Spain and Italy with Alenia Aeronautica’s
participation of 21% industrial share.
An Atlantic Alliance’s evaluation team – within
the “Operation Discrete Jury” exercise - has fully
certified the Italian Air Force’s 4th Fighter
Wing at the Grosseto Base as NATO Quick Response
Force. This way the 4th Air Wing becomes the first
fighter unit with Eurofighter aircraft in service
to obtain this important NATO certification.
The exercise has involved many activities carried
out at Grosseto Base: rescue and connectivity
services, self-defence and survival capabilities,
but above all logistic support, maintenance and
flight operations. In this very field the operations
of the Grosseto Base’s Typhoons have been positively
evaluated, having demonstrated excellent operational
availability and full compliance with Italian
Air Force and NATO’s operational requirements.
The 4th Air Wing, together with the 5th Wing
of Cervia, the 36th of Gioia del Colle and the
37th of Trapani, is one of the units assigned
to the surveillance of the Italian air space,
thus assuring aerial defence all year round, 24
hours-a-day.
Giovanni Bertolone, Alenia Aeronautica’s CEO,
has commented: “We are very much satisfied for
this important acknowledgment - to both the Italian
Air Force and in particular to all the staff of
the Grosseto Base - and to the Eurofighter Typhoon’s
operational capabilities – which confirms it as
the most advanced new-generation air defence aircraft
and perfectly complying with NATO’s strict requirements”.
Alenia Aeronautica is national leader in the
airplane’s development and production programme.
The company is responsible for the left wing manufacturing,
the design and building of the rear fuselage together
with BAE Systems, the design and integration of
some onboard systems, such as armament and navigation,
as well as the integration of the whole propelling
system. The Italian company is also responsible
for the final assembly of all Italian Air Force
airplanes.
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