AirForces Monthly – September 2019

mendola air base in southeast Italy,

home of the Aeronautica Militare

(AM, Italian Air Force) 13° Gruppo

(13th Squadron) of the 32° Stormo (32nd

Wing) hosted British and American F-35s for

an “international F-35 training day” on July

2. The exercise, named Staccato Pursuit by
   the UK contingent, involved two F-35Bs of
   No 617 Squadron ‘Dambusters’ and four
   F-35As from the 421st Fighter Squadron
   (FS) from Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
   The two British jets landed at Amendola on
   July 1, on their way back to RAF Marham,
   Norfolk, from RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, where they
   had just completed Operation Lightning Dawn –
   the squadron’s first overseas deployment. The
   day after, two aircraft took part in a complex
   mission with two Italian F-35As. It was the
   first time Italian and British stealth jets had
   flown together and ‘talked’ to one another via
   Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL).
   Commander of the 32° Stormo Col Davide

Marzinotto explained: “The purpose of this joint

activity is to consolidate the interoperability

between two of the most important air forces

in the F-35 programme. Although the platform

has reached a good degree of maturity, as

we start operational use of the aircraft it’s

important for us to share lessons learned in

various fields. We shared data with the British

F-35s using MADL: this is a further step

towards integration between fifth-generation

aircraft of different nations – the use of this

high-performance data link is essential for

any coalition mission or joint training.

“Deployment of the RAF F-35Bs to Amendola

Staccato Pursuit

A

Below: No 617 Squadron F-35Bs ZM146

and ZM148 fl anked by a pair of F-35As from

Amendola’s 32° Stormo. The different aerial

refuelling kit between the two variants – nose-

mounted probe on the F-35B, boom receptacle on

the spine of the F-35A – are obvious in this view.

All photos David Cenciotti

Above: The two British jets rest on the tarmac at Amendola. The jets arrived in Italy en route back to

Marham following their combat debut in Operation Shader, during which they fl ew a fi rst combat sortie

over Syria on June 16. Right: The ‘Dambusters’ F-35Bs cruise together over southeast Italy during Exercise

Staccato Pursuit. Note the Luneburg lenses fi tted ahead of the tail fi ns to boost the jets’ radar signatures.

60 // September 2019 #378 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com

UK Lightning in focus

60-61 UKF35s AFM Sep2019.indd 60 02/08/2019 17:22:58