The Coast Guard Cutter James (WMSL-754) crew conducts a replenishment at sea with Chilean navy oiler Almirante Montt (AO 52) in the Pacific Ocean Nov. 25, 2020.
The cutter James is deployed to the Pacific Ocean in support of enhanced counter narcotic operations. (U.S. Coast guard video by Petty Officer 3rd Class Erik Villa Rodriguez)
11.25.2020
U.S. Coast Guard District 7
By Pierre Tran
Paris – The use of low-cost armed drones in bloody conflicts in central Europe, North Africa and the Middle East highlights the need for countermeasures, while the UK is showing interest in ordering these cheap and deadly weapons.
Armed unmanned aerial vehicles were used to wreak havoc in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and military drones have flown in Libya, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Interest may have been heightened following a Jan. 26 air attack on Riyadh, just days after a Jan. 23 interception of a missile or drone in the skies over the Saudi capital.
Those air attacks were just the latest attempts to hit Saudi Arabia, with the Yemeni-based Houthis insurgents previously having sent armed drones.
The market for armed tactical drones appears to be thriving.
The Azeri use of the Turkish TB2 drone against Armenian forces sparked UK interest to acquire a similar weapon, daily The Guardian reported Dec. 29.
That type of UAV evades conventional air defenses, flying too slow and too low to be detected by older military radars and they escape missiles designed to hit fighter jets, incoming missiles and other airborne threats.
A lack of necessary kit fuels potential demand for countermeasures to detect, identify and disable the tactical drone.
In the pipeline of prospective threats, there are mini- and micro-drones carrying grenades, calling for further countermeasures, an industry executive said.
A Nov. 24 research note from the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank, pointed up the need for Europe to learn lessons from the critical Azeri use of tactical UAVs in the Azeri-Armenian conflict.
The Azeri forces flew drones to locate Armenian forces and hit them hard.
Armenia is armed with three Russian surface-to-air missiles developed in the 1980s, namely S-300PT and PS, and 9K37M Buk-M1, said the note, titled Military lessons from Nagorno-Karabakh: reason for Europe to worry.
“While the missiles are still potent, their sensors are designed to detect, identify and track fast-moving fighters, and their moving-target indicators disregard small, slow drones,” the note said.
Those missiles were modern, but the Armenians lacked computer systems for “plot fusion,” namely gathering and combining raw data from different radars to give a “aggregated situation report,” the note said.
That lack of radar network meant Armenian forces failed to detect and track advanced drones or stealthy aircraft, the report said, and they also lacked jammers to disrupt signals linking the Azeri drones to ground controllers.
It was only in the last days of the fighting, the Russian forces used an electronic warfare system, dubbed Krashukha or Belladonna, to disable Azeri drones on deep strike mission, the report said.
Those Azeri drones were supplied by a Turkish manufacturer, Bayraktar, Asia Times reported Oct. 20.
The Azeri forces deployed another weapon, the Harop drone from Israel Aerospace Industry, the ECFR note said. The Harop, known as a “loitering munition,” flew over the combat zone, waiting for an opportunistic strike, with no need for a command and control link to a ground station.
The outlook is that regional powers Israel, South Africa and Turkey, as well the major powers China, Russia and the US, will learn from the Azeri operations to develop artificial intelligence and lethal autonomous weapon systems, the note said. That is in contrast to a European move toward outlawing such deadly autonomous systems.
A military victory allowed Azerbaijan to secure control of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the retreat of Armenia from the disputed region.
The low-cost Turkish drone used in that Caucasus conflict drew UK interest in acquiring similar aircraft, The Guardian reported. Such an acquisition could be in the five-year defense review due to be unveiled in the coming months.
The UK defense minister, Ben Wallace, said in December the Turkish TB2 drones showed how other countries were “leading the way,” the report said. Those drones had destroyed hundreds of armored vehicles and even air defense systems, he said. There was also video evidence suggesting the drones killed many people in Nagorno-Karabakh, the report said.
A TB2 drone was estimated to cost $1 million-$2 million per unit, far less than the unit price of almost $20 million the UK was paying for the General Atomics Protector next-generation drone, the report said.
The proliferation of UAVs is such that the skies over Libya were “possibly the largest drone war theater now in the world,” the UN special representative to Libya, Ghassan Salame, said Sept. 25.
Both sides of the civil war flew drones, hitting civilian targets with a “collateral effect” of creating 120,000-130,000 refugees, he said.
On the one side, the Libyan National Army led by Khalifa Haftar, flew the Chinese Wing Loong drone, while on the other side, the Government of National Accord flew the Turkish TB2, broadcaster Al Jazeera reported May 28.
Ankara intervened in Libya December 2019 to support the UN-backed GNA, deploying the TB2 to counterattack the LNA seeking to seize Tripoli.
Those Turkish drones hit ground targets and provided air cover for GNA troops, helping to turn the tide against the advancing LNA forces.
Some of the Turkish know-how in drones has its roots in the engineers who worked with Airbus on the Talarion project for a European medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV, the executive said. Following cancellation of Talarion, the Turkish engineers were recalled, bearing knowledge of how to build a drone.
Meanwhile in Yemen, the Houthi rebels flew a bomb-bearing drone to strike the government in Aden, CBS News reported Dec. 30, reporting Al-Arabiya, a Saudi television channel. That UAV was downed.
Saudi Arabia bristles with weapons against air threats, with Patriot, Hawk, Crotale and Shahine missiles, backed by counter battery radars.
The air defense in September 2019 failed to prevent cruise missiles and drones hitting two Aramco installations, shuting down half of Saudi oil production.
That air strike effectively opened a sales window for anti-drone weapons.
The ECFR note pointed up a general lack of European capability to fight back against drones — apart from France and Germany.
The need is for the right kind of radar, command and control systems, and weapons to detect, identify and “neutralize” low-flying, low-speed UAVs, the industry executive said. Satellites can also help fight against drones.
Hensoldt is delivering a first batch of 10 Spexer 2000 3D radars to Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace for the counter-unmanned aerial system for the German army, the German electronics company said in a July 28 2020 statement.
The Spexer anti-drone radar and remote control machine gun are on a Boxer armored vehicle, meeting Nato requirements for a very high readiness joint task force for 2023.
That technology stems from radars for surveillance of desert borders and harbors in Saudi Arabia, deals won by the then EADS, the executive said.
Hensoldt was formed from the divestment of Airbus’s defense electronics business in 2018.
In France, there is radar which could spot drones, at the highly protected naval base for nuclear ballistic missile submarines at Ile Longue, western France.
European missile maker MBDA gave a demonstration Nov. 6 2019 to 15 foreign delegations the anti-drone capabilities of its Licorne command and control system, firing a Mistral missile against a UAV.
Communications & Systèmes, a systems integrator, has delivered two prototype “hard kill” weapon systems in the French Army’s Arlad anti-drone project, CS director Egidio Cau said Jan. 28.
These technology demonstrators are fitted on armored vehicles, which could protect army bases and mobile deployments such as operations in Mali. CS delivered the first unit in December.
The first trials used conventional 12.7 mm machine gun rounds, with the next step of an armored vehicle firing a 40 mm canon with “intelligent munitions” programmed to explode in mid-air to create an airburst — a 5×5 meter cloud of metal — to destroy the drone in its flight path.
Trials on that airburst project are due to this year. There is a small amount of government funding on that project.
For a longer range 10-15 km interception of larger drones, CS plans to give a demonstration this year of a missile guided by a Saab Giraffe radar.
Cau declined to say which missile would be fired. The Boreades anti-drone command and control system was “agnostic” on weapons, which could be from MBDA, Thales, Rheinmetall or an Italian company.
CS is also testing a drone with 15 kg of payload to intercept an enemy drone, to jam or blow it up.
The company delivered in 2018 18 Milad anti-drone systems with 30 jamming guns to the French forces, based on its Boreades system.
CS is working on an overall command and control system to track drones and various anti-drone weapons, highlighting the need for interoperability as there are several anti-UAV defenses.
Other means to down drones are high powered electromagnetic and microwave weapons to disrupt the drone’s signals. Electronic countermeasures can be used to blind the UAV, interfere with its GPS self-positioning, and redirect its flight.
There is work on wiring artificial intelligence into C2, seeking to make detection, identification and classification more sure.
The difficulty is to find countermeasures for micro and mini drones such as the Parrot and Quad, hard to detect and which could be adapted to carry a grenade.
Lasers are also being developed to take down drones.
Cilas was testing its HELM-P laser weapon against UAVs at the Direction Générale de l’Armement Biscarosse missile base, southwest France, the technology office Agence d’Innovation de Defense said Nov. 9 on social media.
Cilas is a unit of the Ariane space rocket group.
“The first results are promising,” AID said in a statement, adding that the laser could eventually be extended to hit rockets, artillery, and mortar rounds.
Cilas leads a 16-strong TALOS (Tactical Advanced Laser Optical System) consortium, in a three-year, €5.4 million study for a high-powered laser. The European Defense Agency backs that research project, a step toward development of a weapon.
MBDA is working in three laser projects, with Germany leading the way, a defense source said.
MBDA and its partner Rheinmetall won a German contract for a demonstrator for a naval laser weapon, the missile company said Jan. 28.
The deal, worth in the low 10s of millions of euros, will see Rheinmetall supply the laser and MBDA delivering the tracking, operator’s console, and plugging the laser into the command and control system. The demonstrator is due to be tested onboard the F124 Sachsen frigate next year.
In the second project, MBDA leads the UK Dragonflyer consortium, which showcased a beam director turret at the 2017 DSEI trade show in London. That study is worth £30 million ($41 million) and the consortium includes Arke, BAE Systems, GKN, Leonardo, Marshall, MBDA and Qinetiq.
MBDA is also in the European TALOS study.
The drone threat has fuelled export sales of a mature air defense system dubbed ForceShield, said Jean-Philippe Hardange, Thales director of strategy for integrated airspace protection systems.
“There is a lot of demand,” he said, with sales growth in that sector clearly outstripping the two-three percent rise in defense budgets of Nato allies.
The UK is operating the system initially armed with Starstreak missiles, then with Lightweight Multi-role Missiles.
Export clients bought the weapon with Ground Master 200 radar and C2 system. The radar could pick up a tactical UAV at a nominal range of 50-100 km, while a smaller drone could be detected at a nominal range of 15-20 km.
France has ordered the RapidFire 40 mm naval gun to arm four fleet auxiliary ships being built, and the gun could down drones and hit fast moving boats, he said. The first ship is due for delivery next year and enter service in 2023.
Thales gave a demonstration of a land based RapidFire in 2013. There were no immediate orders. A sales pitch could point out how army, air force and navy could use that version to protect land bases.
The gun is supplied by CTAI, an Anglo-French joint venture of BAE Systems and Nexter.
There is clearly a market for anti-drone weapons, with a range of technologies. The question is which approach is the most practicable.
“There are limits to technology,” said Henry de Plinval, director of the drone program at Onera, a research office specializing in aerospace defense. “Technology is not magic.”
The office expects to complete by the end of this year Shield its two-year study into the technology and operational aspects of anti-drone measures under development, he said.
The study aims to give expert opinion on the limits of technology, to point government and industry in the right direction for countermeasures.
The aim is to be “more precise,” he said.
In research for drone detection, Onera is drawing on work on passive radar, using the general background of electromagnetic signals for devices such televisions to detect UAVs.
There are studies of identification to confirm the object is a military drone and not a bird or a tree. That includes advanced research into laser imaging detection and ranging (LIDAR) for 3D identification of targets at long distance of “several kilometers,” he said.
To “neutralize” drones, there is the conventional GPS jamming, but there are strict rules on GPS, on which airlines depend, he said. A more sophisticated approach is GPS “spoofing,” to divert the drone to another flight path.
A “kinetic” hit is fine in open spaces such as deserts, but harder to use in urban combat, he said. Alternative measures will be needed.
There is an operational need, but technology needs time, he said.
Meanwhile, tension between Greece and Turkey over territorial claims over the Eastern Mediterranean presents a marketing opportunity for drones.
A land and sea surveillance project dubbed Semaphore is seen to be of potential interest to the Greek forces, the executive said. That system offers a mix of border surveillance and flying mini UAVs over the sea.
Four fixed-wing drones, each flying eight hours, could provide 24-hour surveillance over the Eastern Mediterranean. A Greek coast guard patrol boat could launch a drone by catapult and recover with a net, or a drone could be launched from one of the Greek islands.
An extended network of UAVs and radars would allow Greece to track Turkish naval activity, and follow Turkish moves on the island of Cyprus, close to mainland Turkey and the subject of long standing dispute.
Greece and Turkey are in dispute over claims of exclusive economic zone in that part of the Mediterranean, where Ankara is looking for oil and gas reserves.
Athens has ordered 18 Rafale fighter jets and missiles in a deal worth €2.5 billion ($3 billion), pointing up the tension with Ankara.
Featured photo: The Turkish-made Bayraktar TB-2 drone.
Also, see the following:
By Robbin Laird
There is a growing emphasis on what is referred to as “multi-domain” C2 as a key means to be able to operate in the extended battlespace.
A new effort to do so is being spearheaded in the United States, which is referred to as Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2). This is certainly an important effort and a key target to enable fully a future integrated distributed force.
But such a future force concept does not well describe what can be done now to enhance the capabilities of the United States and allied forces to deliver an enhanced capability to leverage data and C2 in operations for today’s forces.
Indeed, a number of new capabilities already introduced into the force are driving changes which can be leveraged now, such as the arrival of the F-35 global fleet.
In the view of the commander of the Royal Danish Air Force, Major General Anders Rex, there are already significant opportunities now to build out enhanced integration. In an interview done with him while I was in Europe in January, we discussed by teleconference his perspective and his approach.
According to Major General Rex: “For me, joint all domain C2 is clearly the future.
“But at the same time we have to work on enhanced capabilities with the current force.
“We need focus on both in parallel. Denmark does not have the muscle to shape the future of all domain command and control, but we also need to drive the change – we need now to get the job done.
“What I have been focused on over the past couple of years, is to make our force better now. Today.
“We actually already have the capability to shape more effective networks of ISR and C2 without significant investments. For example, we are leveraging the joint range extension application protocol (JREAP) that requires modest investments, and it is a way for us, our allies and coalition partners to build a modest combat cloud linking our data.”
He argued that Denmark is building a national shared database structure to more effectively bring together Danish and allied assets. It can be forgotten by non-Danes that the Kingdom of Denmark reaches much further than Europe and extends into the Arctic to include Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
When I visited Karup Airbase in 2018, I spent time with the team which mans the Danish Joint Data Link Operations Centre. And in that visit, Major Knud Aagis Larsen, the director of the Centre, underscored the Centre’s role: “We design, establish and maintain the infrastructure necessary for exchanging Tactical Data between C2 units and fighting platforms. We are the hub between various C2 systems, different tactical data link systems as well as across different domains.”
As I highlighted at the time: “The expeditionary operations as well as Danish reach into the Arctic and into Greenland (see featured graphic below) provide a challenge of operating over distance, that a non-Dane might simply not include, within the challenges of linking and communication of the force or between the force and military and civilian authorities.
“But this means that the Danes have had to work non-line of sight capabilities for Link-16 which involves among other things ways to move Link 16 data over various other networks as well.
“And with the IP revolution, the Centre has found ways to send Link 16 data over various IP systems as well.”
When discussing the way ahead with Major General Rex, he underscored that what had been laid down at the Centre was a key part of shaping the national way ahead but in close coordination with NATO as well. “We are building our national shared database in close coordination with the NATO coalition shared database structure. Taping into this data base allows us to leverage for instance pictures which we have just uploaded from one of our sensors, allowing the warfighter to tap into that information, and we can do that now.”
He argued that learning how to best leverage information is part of the process of guiding near term innovation.
He provided this example: “We fly our helicopters off of our frigates and the captain of the frigate is using the helicopter in a certain operational way to achieve a specific operational goal. But data generated from the helicopters onboard systems can be employed to inform other security or warfighting elements in the operational area. Who can use information generated from those helicopters sensors and how do we best get it to them? This problem can be worked by shaping the operational networks to determine which data is usable by whom within an operational area.”
He also highlighted the importance of focused integration in a particular specific operational area as a key consideration as well. “We should not focus simply on building a gold-plated multi-domain C2 system designed to operate over very large geographical areas; we also need to have a system that is able to focus on local geographical areas, and for a certain amount of time.”
He underscored the importance of expanding the capability and willingness of allies to share data. He talked about how the members of the Danish Joint Data Link Operations Centre work closely with other data experts in NATO and how that shared experience drives innovation in terms of shared intelligence underscoring what building an integrated force can drive.
The future is now.
“With regard to JREAP we can tie the information we already have together using this technology. Let us just do that. And do it now. The networks that we already have, we have to be better at using them, and we have to distribute and share the information that we’re already gathering.
“We need to change the culture of our militaries so that we are in a giving mode rather than a receiving mode. Push of information rather than pull. And without that specific cultural change, new technologies will not matter as much as they could in shaping the way ahead for an integratable force.”
Major General Rex underscored that this was especially important because of the need to work effectively in the range of crises affecting Denmark, Europe and the NATO alliance.
“We need to deliver spectrum elasticity. The Russians do not think in terms of peace, crisis and then war; they have competition and war as their basic approach.
“The competition piece has a really wide range in which the use of all of a nations tools of power can be escalated or deescalated in time, intensity or geography collectively or individually – so essentially the degree of conflict can continuously be expanded or compressed.
“This means that we too need to be able to move with elasticity along the spectrum of conflict. And our C2 and ISR systems need to enable and facilitate spectrum elasticity.”
See also, the following:
5th Gen Enablement and the Evolution of Airpower: The Perspective of Major General Anders Rex
The 48th EMS conducted a crash and recovery crane lift training with an F-15.
SFK, UNITED KINGDOM
12.29.2020
Video by Senior Airman Madeline Herzog
48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
We are pleased to announce our new book, Training for the High-End Fight: The Strategic Shift of the 2020s.
Training for the High-End Fight highlights the essential strategic shift for the U.S. and allied militaries from land wars in the Middle East to the return of great power competition.
The primary challenge of this strategic shift will be the need to operate a full spectrum crisis management force.
That means training a force capable of delivering the desired combat and crisis management effect in dealing with 21st century authoritarian powers.
This reset in combat approach is pivotal to enhancing our escalation management skills and for protecting the liberal democracies against 21st century authoritarian powers.
Informed by interviews with officers at a number of U.S. war fighting training centers, the focus is upon the future of 21st Century combat, and how our forces are preparing for it.
This book can be purchased in e-book form on a number of global booksellers, including Amazon’s global sites.
It can also be purchased off our website at a 30% discount.
The book will appear in paperback at the end of March as well.
The new book can be found on amazon as follows:
Or on our website as follows:
Training for the High End Fight: The Strategic Shift of the 2020s
U.S. Sailors assigned to Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 8 conduct flight operations with CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters aboard the dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD 51) in response to the crashed Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800 aircraft off the coast of Moriches, New York, July 27, 1996.
TWA Flight 800 was a Boeing 747-100 aircraft that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on July 17, 1996, after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on a scheduled international passenger flight to Rome, resulting in the death of all 230 individuals on board.
(U.S. Navy video)
10.01.2019
Defense VI Records Center
By Flight Lieutenant Jessica Aldred
An eight-ship formation of F/A-18A/B Hornets filled the Williamtown skyline in a fitting farewell to the aircraft as it was retired from No. 77 Squadron on December 11.
With the squadron transitioning to the F-35A Lightning II this month, Air Force’s only remaining Hornet squadron is No. 75 Squadron at RAAF Base Tindal, Northern Territory.
Warrant Officer Engineering No. 77 Squadron Tony Collie said he had a long and unique history with the aircraft.
“I arrived at 77 Squadron in August 1988 as an aircraftman engine fitter while the unit was still in the process of receiving the new aircraft from final assembly in Melbourne,” Warrant Officer Collie said.
“I vividly remember to this day how good it was to marshal a brand new aircraft, A21-045, into our flightline and inspect such a pristine aircraft.
“77 Squadron was my first unit working on the Hornet – on arrival as an aircraftman, the new Hornets were still being commissioned into service, and now as Warrant Officer Engineering, I’m transitioning the Hornet out of service at the same squadron.
“I feel privileged that history has aligned for me to achieve my minimum and maximum enlisted rank on the same aircraft type at the same squadron.”
Air Force operated 71 F/A-18A/B Hornets at RAAF Base Williamtown and RAAF Base Tindal since 1985, with No. 77 Squadron operating the Hornet out of RAAF Base Williamtown for the past 33 years.
In that time, they have deployed on a number of operations, including Operations Falconer and Okra – the first operational deployment of fighters since the Korean War.
Warrant Officer Collie said his experience with the F/A-18A/B Hornets on Operation Falconer, in the Middle East in 2003, would stay with him.
“The whole experience to prepare aircraft and equip ourselves for operational deployment was extremely exciting,” Warrant Officer Collie said.
“I gained a firsthand perspective of how a team could operate and achieve a goal when we had a common purpose, we just got on with the task.”
The F/A-18A (single seat) and F/A-18B (twin seat) Hornets are a multi-role fighter aircraft, capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. They have been an integral part of Australia’s air combat capability.
Warrant Officer Collie said it had been an exciting part of his Air Force career and was looking forward to their new chapter with the F-35A.
“I feel extremely privileged to be involved within the lifecycle of our Hornet. I definitely feel a part of its contribution to the Air Force,” Warrant Officer Collie said.
“I am excited to see what potential we will be able to achieve by mixing state of the art technology with the F-35A and highly motivated, lateral thinking and innovative men and women in Air Force today.
“I am looking forward to witnessing the capability increase that the F-35A will offer Defence as a whole after we mature from platform transition.”
This article was published by the Australian Department of Defence on January 27, 2021.
Featured photo: A formation of four F/A-18A/B Hornets over the lighthouse at Nobbys Beach in Newcastle. Photo: Corporal Brett Sherriff
The Air Combat Group in Transition: The Perspective of Air Commodore Kitcher
During the 2018 visit, we shot photos of the Hornets at the base.
Our colleagues at the Italian defense journal RID have highlighted the departure of the Cavour for the United States:
“The aircraft carrier CAVOUR has left for the United States where it will embark the F-35Bs of the Navy stationed Beaufort and will acquire the certification to operate the aircraft.
“The unit, with its crew and its Commander, were greeted by the Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini, accompanied by General Enzo Vecciarelli, Chief of Defense Staff, by Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Chief of Staff of the Navy, and by Admiral Paolo Treu, Commander in Chief of the Naval Squad.
“The Minister stated: “It is certainly an activity of a technical-operational nature, but with important implications on the strategic-military level for Defense and for the country on the international scene.
“In fact, Italy will become one of the few countries in the world, together with the United States, Great Britain and Japan, to be able to operate an aircraft carrier capability with 5th Generation combat aircraft.
“The convergence between Italy and the United States on the mutual strengthening and integration of their naval forces means that this mission provides as an important additional opportunity for operational validation.
“This mission will allow to further increase, also from a joint perspective, the capabilities that the Defense, and the Navy in particular, available to Italy ”
An additional article published by Naval News, provided some additional details.
“The major issue for 2021 is the ITS Cavour, our major carrier, that will be deployed here in the United States for what we have called ‘Ready for Operation Campaign’ that consists to achieve the qualification and to conduct joint and combined maritime operations by embarking F-35 Bravo air assets. The campaign will be executed in close cooperation with the U.S. Navy but especially U.S. Marine Corps. The unit is expected to arrive in Norfolk in a few weeks, actually half of February.”
“For the record, the aircraft carrier Cavour left the Arsenale Militare Marittimo (Maritime Military Arsenal) of Taranto in May 2020 after completing a 16 months refit and upgrade period to operate F-35B Joint Strike Fighters.
“Technical interventions carried out on board the aircraft carrier included the overhaul of the flight deck with a new deck coating. This was necessary to limit the thermodynamic impacts when the F-35B STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing) variant will take off and land. In addition to the structures, equipment and flight systems of the deck, the ship’s island compartments, hangar, equipment store, aviation fuel storage, data distribution network, sensors and electronics were also modified and upgraded. This was required for the integration and flight operation of the F-35B from ITS Cavour.
“The Cavour upgrade phase started a month after the second Italian Navy’s F35B – individual registration code 4-02 – took off from the Cameri (Novara) Final Assembly and Check Out plant FACO to make its flight to the United States. The aircraft final destination was MCAS Beaufort, in South Carolina, where the aircraft joined the first F-35B (4-01) in supporting the training of the F-35B Italian pilots and technicians.
“The Italian Navy ordered a total of 15 F-35B fighter jets. The Italian Air Force has the same amount on order (in addition to about 60 F-35A models).”
La portaerei CAVOUR è partita alla volta degli Stati Uniti dove imbarcherà gli F-35B della Marina di stanza Beaufort ed acquisirà la certificazione per operare con il velivolo. L’unità, con il suo equipaggio ed il suo Comandante, è stata salutata dal Ministro della Difesa Lorenzo Guerini, accompagnato dal Generale Enzo Vecciarelli, Capo di Stato Maggiore della Difesa, dall’Ammiraglio Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Capo di Stato Maggiore della Marina, e dall’Ammiraglio Paolo Treu, Comandante in Capo della Squadra Navale.
Il Ministro ha rilasciato parole molto importanti a proposito di questa attività affermando che“si tratta certamente di un’attività di natura tecnico-operativa, ma con risvolti importanti sul piano strategico-militare per la Difesa e per il Paese nel panorama internazionale.
L’Italia, infatti, diventerà uno dei pochi Paesi al mondo, insieme a Stati Uniti, Gran Bretagna e Giappone, a poter esprimere una capacità portaerei con velivoli da combattimento di 5ª Generazione. La convergenza di intenti tra Italia e Stati Uniti sul reciproco rafforzamento e integrazione delle proprie forze navali vede in questa missione un’importante ulteriore occasione di verifica operativa. Questa campagna consentirà di aumentare ulteriormente, anche in ottica interforze, le capacità che la Difesa, e la Marina in particolare, sapranno mettere a disposizione dell’Italia”
Italian Naval Airpower: The Importance of Showing Up at Beaufort Air Station
Re-Thinking the Role of the Smaller Deck Carrier: The Case of Cavour
Cameri, Italy and the F-35: Special Report (English and Italian Versions)