Alenia Aeronautica, The aircraft designed and built by the Alenia Aeronautica starred in the Spring Flag 08 exercise, which unfolded for almost three weeks in the skies of the Central Mediterranean with the participation of 75 aircraft and over 1900 people belonging to the armed forces of Italy and of several of its friends.
The exercise, the largest organized by the Italian Air Force every year, revolved around a hypothetical operation in a crisis area outside Italy. Its purpose was to train to direct complex air operations – known as Composite Air Operations, COMAO) in the broader context of Peace Support Operations and including Urban Close Air Support (CAS), Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) and Slow Movers Interception (SMI).
In addition to the many airplanes and helicopters, Spring Flag also involved setting up a Joint Force Air Component Command (JFACC) tasked with planning the air campaign in agreement with the directives issued by the applicable political authority.
The JFACC operated from the ITAF Air Force Operations Command at Ferrara. The Deployable Combined Air Operations Center (DCAOC) tasked with translating JFACC guidelines in air tasking orders was set up at Bari Palese, while the Deployable Operating Bases (DOBs) used by the “Coalition Forces” and “Opfor Party” were set up respectively at Decimomannu, near Cagliari, and Trapani-Birgi.
In addition to various Eurofighter Typhoons from air defence units – including the official debut of the 36th Wing’s 12th Squadron, currently completing its type conversion – the Spring Flag exercise was the participation of the entire range of aircraft built by Alenia Aeronautica.
[These range] from the Tornado IDS of the 6th Wing to the AMX of the 51st Wing, all the way to the Aermacchi MB.339CD of the 61st Wing used to intercept some slow-moving intruders played by the SF-260EA trainers – also built by Alenia Aermacchi – of the 70th Wing.
The C-27J of the 46th Air Brigade was flown intensively in the support role, together with G.222VS SIGINT platform operated by the 71st Squadron.
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