Combat Aircraft – September 2019

O

VER THE LAST few years, ‘Joint

Stars’ exercises have been a

fundamental tool to assess

the response capability

— in full compliance with

NATO training criteria — of

our armed forces in the face of new

crisis scenarios,’ said Italian defense

minister Elisabetta Trenta on the final

day of the latest exercise. This is Italy’s

premier self-defense exercise, managed

by the defense general staff through

its operational arm, the Comando

Operativo di Vertice Interforze (COI). It

included elements from the US Marine

Corps through to the Carabinieri Corps

— the country’s Gendarmerie.

Held between May 13-31, ‘Joint Stars’

took place in training areas in and

around Sardinia with more than 2,000

soldiers and 25 aircraft and helicopters,

as well as land, naval and amphibious

assets. The Aeronautica Militare (AM)

was at the center of the command

and control (C2) effort, deploying to

the air base at Decimomannu as an

Air Component Command (ACC). A

deployable air control center was

responsible for building the daily

recognized air picture, working in

concert with a Conformal Airborne

Early Warning (CAEW) G550 of the

14° Stormo from Pratica di Mare. The

exercise brought together all assets of

the AM at ‘Deci’ with Tornados, AMXs,

T-346 aggressors, P-72A maritime

patrol aircraft, plus HH-139 and HH-101

helicopters, alongside Hellenic Air Force

F-16Cs from 336 Mira ‘Olympos’, US

Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotors

and a KC-130J Hercules.

Notably, C-130Js and C-27Js

operated by the 46ª Brigata Aerea at

Pisa were engaged in special forces

bio-containment activities. Providing

overwatch missions were 32° Stormo

MQ-1 Predators, with Eurofighter

F-2000As on air defense duties from their

For three weeks in May, the Italian armed forces came together to

test Italy’s response to potential national crises.

REPORT AND PHOTOS Giovanni Colla and Remo Guidi

‘

Italian F-35As are being pressed

into a range of exercises in

and around the country, as the

Aeronautica Militare gets to grips

with its new fighters.

The Italian F-35s have

made a significant

impact on the

information collection

capability of the Italian

Air Force.

EXERCISE REPORT // ’JOINT STARS’

62 September 2019 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

62-63 Joint Stars C.indd 62 18/07/2019 13:20