NO(^16) THE MAGAZINE 03 17
SCANDINAVIAN
AVIATION MAGAZINE
Getting ready for the future
The 154 Gruppo carries out CAS (Close Air
Support); OCA (Offensive Counter Air); ISR
(Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance);
air refuelling with the “buddy-buddy” pod;
and cooperates with civil forces in the case of
emergencies such as earthquakes and floods,
using the ReccelIte pod which provides high
resolution images which can be shared in real-
time with other units.
Recently, the Italian Tornado participated in
reconnaissance missions in cooperation with
civil protection units during the earthquake in
central Italy.
Sometimes the ordinary training reconnaissance
mission of the Tornado can be particularly useful
for Italian Police, as happened a few months
ago when two Tornados discovered a Marijuana
camp in Northern Italy. Thanks to the sharing of
the coordinates, the Police could stop the illegal
production.
The 155 Gruppo performs SEAD missions
carrying the AGM-88E missile.
The basic maintenance of the Tornado fleet is
performed by GEA (Gruppo Efficienza Aeromobili)
at Ghedi, with a level I after 150 and 300 flight
hours and a level II after 600 and 1200 hours.
The main overhaul, after 2,000-2,400 flight hours,
is provided by 1 RMV (Reparto Manutenzione
Velivoli) at Cameri.
Operating outside Italian borders in different
climatic and environmental conditions, such as
in Afghanistan or in Kuwait, required a huge effort
from the support technicians, who, thanks to the
high level of training and professionalism, had
been able to provide efficient machines, daily, for
the entire duration of missions and without having
any technical default for the entire operation.
In an era where the government is continually
searching to reduce military expenditure, the
importance of 6 Stormo is demonstrated by the
choice to enhance and improve the structure of
the air base - to be ready to accept by 2025 the
F-35A Joint Strike Fighter and to likely become
the main air base user of the Lightning II.
The author would like to thank Gen. L. Del Bene,
Col. L. Maineri, Lt.Col. M. Andreis, Lt. G. Perna
for making this article possible.
Tornado community
The last phase of the upgrade, known as IT-MLU
“Full” was originally planned for 35 machines but
later reduced to 25.
This included a DASS integrated by Alenia
and incorporating AR-3 radar warning
equipment (RWE), an internal active electronic
countermeasure system (AECM), chaff/flare
dispenser pods, electronic warfare antennas and
a defensive aid computer (DAC).
In 2010 BAE Systems signed the contract to
providing the upgraded kits for 25 IT-MLU “Full”
Tornado under the name RET 8. It includes, apart
from the aforementioned upgrades, Link 16 MIDS,
an integrated inertial /GPS navigation system
supported by a multi-mode receiver system for
approaches and instrument landing system (ILS).
It involved the upgrade of 15 Tornado ECR
and 10 IDS. The kit for the ECR includes
new functionality for threat identification and
localization, plus the AGM-88E HARM missile.
In December 2015 the last Tornado RET 8 had
been delivered.
Nowadays, the flight line at Ghedi AB is
composed by the three different standards,
RET 6, RET 7 and RET 8, and it includes both
Tornado IDS and ECR.
The flight squadrons are represented
by the 102, 154 and 155 Groups.
The 102 Gruppo is responsible for the training
of the new pilots assigned to the Tornado fighter.
The Squadron became the OCU (Operational
Conversion Unit) for Italian Tornado after the
dissolution of the TTTE (Tri-national Tornado
Training Establishment) in Cottesmore, in 1999.
The TTTE was one of the first example of
interoperability between different Air Forces;
here crews from RAF, Luftwaffe and AM could
flight and train together, with composite crew
and machines.
Today this cooperation is still alive at Ghedi,
where crews from the Luftwaffe fly with their
Italian colleagues on the Tornado for 6-
months, and Italian crews fly with their
German colleagues in Jagel.