over the past decade. The big-ticket item
is the addition of the Joint Direct Attack
Munition (JDAM), added as part of the
Tornado RET8 ‘IT Full MLU’ program.
The 155° Gruppo is now combat-ready
with GBU-32 JDAMs, having completed
integration and work-ups in 2016.
The squadron has also started receiving
its rst AGM-88E Advanced Anti-
Radiation Guided Missiles (AARGM), with
an improved ability to geo-locate and
neutralize threats. ‘We are designing the
tactics for the ‘Echo’, but currently we
mainly y with the old AGM-88B HARM
[High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile],’ says
Col Stefano, the 155° Gruppo commander.
As part of a small contingent of AM
aircraft, four EA-200B Tornado ECRs from
Ghedi deployed to NAWS China Lake,
California, from February-April as part
of an operation dubbed ‘Blazing Shield’.
This included the operational test and
evaluation (OT&E) of the teaming of the
ECR and AARGM. On April 2, a Tornado
ECR piloted by a test aircrew red the rst
Italian AGM-88E.Stefano comments, ‘Despite its age, the
ECR is still quite e ective. In particular,
our experience over Libya was important
to ne-tune some procedures and
tactics that needed to be refreshed and
updated to become applicable to the
current scenario.’ The WSO is a particularly
important element of the ECR’s lethality,
since they carefully manage the emitter-
locator system (ELS). The advent of the
F-35 will ultimately kill o the Italian
Tornados, but the importance of the ECR
is such that the Lightning IIs will initially
replace the Italian IDS eet. Therefore,
the ‘Panthers’ are always on the look-out
for experienced crews to come over from
the IDS community, and keep the ECRs
credible and capable for the future.‘Afghanistan in 2009 was our rst overseas
combat deployment in many years and it
was a real test for the whole squadron. In
Libya we operated from Trapani using all
the precision weaponry in our inventory
and it was the same in Iraq. Here [from
2014] we ew very long missions of
up to seven hours that required three
to four aerial refuelings. Compared
to a normal detachment to Deci, real
operations require a particular turnover.
In Afghanistan and Iraq we swapped the
aircrews every two months, while in Libya,
due to the proximity of the deployment
base, we were able to make bi-weekly
rotations. Here in Sardinia we remain for a
maximum of two weeks.’
Ultimate ‘Tonka’
Italy’s Tornado eet has been the subject
of a rolling program of improvements
Aeronautica Militare Tornado designations
A-200A Tornado IDS
A-200C Tornado IDS MLU
TA-200A Tornado IDS trainer
TA-200C Tornado IDS trainer MLU
EA-200B Tornado ECR
EA-200C Tornado ECR MLUBelow: The ECRs
fl y night missions
in the PISQ range
to hone SEAD
tactics.
Below right:
Tornado ECR
WSOs offer
specialized SEAD
skill sets and are
experienced in
getting the most
from the jet.http://www.combataircraft.net // November 2018 43