The Third Pillar of the Italian Airpower Enterprise: The International Flight Training School

12/04/2024

By Robbin Laird

The Italian Air Force leadership saw early on that the F-35 was more than a next generation aircraft – it was a whole different way to look at airpower in the digital age and enabling multi-domain airpower.

They committed to the aircraft and have built a fifth-generation air force. The Italian government committed to building an F-35 plant and maintenance facility in Cameri with a very wide aperture to encompass other members of the F-35 global enterprise. And finally, they re-shaped their training program to shape a way ahead for a fifth generation enabled multi-domain training regime.

In 2022, a new training facility was opened on the island of Sardinia. As Lieutenant General Aurelio Colagrande, Italian Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff, started his presentation to the Williams Foundation seminar in Canberra, Australia in 2022: “We launched a very challenging operational training infrastructure program in Sardinia, an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea where we have lot of airspace, air to air, air to ground, EW and lots of test ranges and good weather throughout the year.

“Furthermore, in Sardinia, we are setting up our international flight training school where we will train in the phase four advanced training, our future fifth generation pilots. Within the OTI framework, we are investing in connectivity network in order to offer a real effective advanced training.

“And through it, we intend to achieve one of the most challenging objectives, the integration between legacy and new generation weapon system for exploiting the main operational output of the fifth-generation assets that we believe is the ability to be task enablers and force multipliers.”

This training facility is embedded in the Italian fifth generation transition. Symptomatic of this reality is the current head of Air Force training and of the new international center, Brigadier General Edi Turco. A look at his bio highlights his early engagement with the F-35 and his deep understanding of what this new aircraft brings to driving change in air and multi-domain operations.

BGen Edi TURCO serves as Chief of Staff of the Air Education Training Command / 3rd Air Region, and Head of the International Flight Training School (IFTS) Program Office.

BGen TURCO joined the Italian Air Force in 1991 and he graduated at the Air Force Academy in 1995. He is a Master Navigator, Weapon Instructor, with more than 2200 flying hours (2000 of which on Tornado). He has served different combat tours.

BGen Turco spent most of his operational career assigned to the 154th Squadron, 6th Wing in Ghedi (Brescia – Italy) flying, as a WSO, on Tornado aircraft (reconnaissance, conventional and dual role fighter-bomber).

Between 2009 and 2012, BGen Turco was the Air System Requirements Working Group Lead and F-35 Future Requirements Deputy Lead at the JSF Program Office, in Arlington, Virginia (USA).

He, then, was Base/Wing Director of Operations at 6th Wing Ghedi (Italy), after his appointment at the ItAF HQ as Director of F-35 Air Force Integration Office, he commanded the 2nd Wing at Rivolto Air Force Base (Italy) and subsequently he was the Deputy Commander Air Staff Situational Room at the Air Operational Forces Command in Rome (Italy).

Prior to his current assignment, BGen Turco was the Air Attaché at the Embassy of Italy in Washington DC (USA), accredited both to the United States Department of the Air Force and Mexico.

I met with him to discuss the new training center on 12 November 2024. The Italians have created a cutting-edge training center looking beyond airpower muscle memory training to shaping pilots who can think and operate in the changing multi-domain combat environment. It is a very international program with pilots from several nations, including from Asia. Students have come from twelve counties, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore, Austria, Netherlands, Hungary and Spain.

Because the training facility is on Sardinia, the combination of live training and be able to operate over water, land and in air-to-air engagements means that the training center pushes the envelope on advanced training, they are clearly positioned to work with the world of unmanned and autonomous systems airborne, land-based or sea based in shaping the 360 capabilities of what I originally labeled the emergence of the three dimensional warrior.

IFTS is located at Italian Air Force base in Decimomannu (Cagliari), and employs an international team of instructor pilots and technical staff, who train students on phase 4 “Lead-In to Fighter Training – LIFT“, the most advanced part of training syllabus, that prepares the way for subsequent deployment on fighter aircraft.

This graphic below from the presentation which the Turco made to me, highlights the physical nature of this facility:

The IFTS was set up as a collaboration between the Italian Air Force and the private sector. The Italian Air Force rewrites the syllabus for training, which is crucial given how dynamic the global combat situation has become. And Leonardo and the Canadian company CAE provided the private sector support in terms of managing the equipment and services for the IFTS. Leonardo and CAE are key players in providing the support for the Live Virtual Constructive systems to support the training regime.

BGen Turco underscored that the syllabus is modular so can be updated rapidly as threats change. He underscored that fifth-generation training was really about getting pilots of whatever aircraft being flown to understand the comprehensive and extended battlespace and to find their place within that battlespace. It is crucial to understand what platforms and payloads are available to deal with the threat envelope.

The M-346 training aircraft is the key element for providing live training but a focal point for bringing the constructive world into the cockpit. As Leonardo described a key aspect of the M-346:

“The M-346 – a twin-engine, tandem-seat aircraft with fully digital flight controls and avionics – is equipped with a fly-by-wire flight control system with quadruple redundancy, a modern human-machine interface with Head-Up Displays (HUD) and Multi-Function Displays (MFD), Hands On Throttle And Stick (HOTAS) controls and in-flight safety features such as the Pilot Activated Attitude Recovery System (PARS). The M-346 can operate in complete autonomy with the aid of its Auxiliary Power Unit (APU).

“The training system features integrated on-board technology to simulate tactical training – the Embedded Tactical Training System (ETTS) – allowing the aircraft to emulate sensors, weapons and Computer Generated Forces (CGF). It also enables pilots to interact in real-time, through Live, Virtual and Constructive (LVC) training that features aircraft in flight (Live), simulators (Virtual) and computer-generated force/threat generated environments (Constructive).

“The system is completed by the Ground Based Training System (GBTS), which consists of various flight and mission simulation systems, multi-media and classroom courses, mission planning and training management systems, and an integrated logistic support (ILS) service that optimises fleet and simulator management for maximum operational use.”

According to BGen Turco, the school is built around its students. The ground-based simulators are available 24/7. This is especially important for international students whose families live in distant time zones, so that they can stay in touch with late night or early morning calls, and then go to the simulators to learn and build their muscle memory,

In short, Italy has established a cutting edge fifth generation training center which drives forward the future of developing air power-enabled multi-domain warfare in a dynamically changing world. And they are doing it with allies from the ground up.

This graphic provided an overview of the IFTS effort:

Brigadier General Edi Turco

Chief of Staff of the Air Education Training Command / 3rd Air Region, and Head of the International Flight Training School (IFTS) Program OfficeItalian Air Force

BGen Edi TURCO serves as Chief of Staff of the Air Education Training Command / 3rd Air Region, and Head of the International Flight Training School (IFTS) Program Office.

BGen TURCO joined the Italian Air Force in 1991 and he graduated at the Air Force Academy in 1995. He is a Master Navigator, Weapon Instructor, with more than 2200 flying hours (2000 of which on Tornado). He has served different combat tours.

BGen Turco spent most of his operational career assigned to the 154th Squadron, 6th Wing in Ghedi (Brescia – Italy) flying, as a WSO, on Tornado aircraft (reconnaissance, conventional and dual role fighter-bomber).

Between 2009 and 2012, BGen Turco was the Air System Requirements Working Group Lead and F-35 Future Requirements Deputy Lead at the JSF Program Office, in Arlington, Virginia (USA).

He, then, was Base/Wing Director of Operations at 6th Wing Ghedi (Italy), after his appointment at the ItAF HQ as Director of F-35 Air Force Integration Office, he commanded the 2nd Wing at Rivolto Air Force Base (Italy) and subsequently he was the Deputy Commander Air Staff Situational Room at the Air Operational Forces Command in Rome (Italy).

Prior to his current assignment, BGen TURCO was the Air Attaché at the Embassy of Italy in Washington DC (USA), accredited both to the United States Department of the Air Force and Mexico.

BGen TURCO is a graduate of the “Joint and Combined Forces Staff College” in Rome.

Featured photo: U.S. Space Force Brig. Gen. Stephen Purdy, right, Space Launch Delta 45 commander, laughs with Italian Air Force Col. Edi Turco, Italian Air Attaché to the United States, at Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., Jan. 27, 2022. Leaders of the Italian Air Force, Navy, and Army visited for CCSFS the launch of the Italian COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation (CSG-2) Earth Observation Satellite aboard the American-made and launched SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The U.S. and Italy share a long heritage of space security cooperation. (U.S. Space Force photo by Senior Airman Thomas Sjoberg)