In the late afternoon of Monday, January 2, a pair of Eurofighter Typhoon interceptor fighter aircraft of the Italian Air Force, on alert service, took off from the Istrana air base, home of the 51st Wing, to reach and identify a Cessna 525 civil aircraft that had taken off from Palma de Mallorca and was en route to Vienna but had temporarily lost radio contact with the national civil air traffic bodies.
The CAOC (Combined Air Operation Centre) of Torrejon, Spain, which is the NATO body responsible for the area, issued the immediate take-off order, also known as a “scramble,” in coordination with the Aerospace Operations Command (COA) of Poggio Renatico and the bodies responsible for the surveillance of the national and NATO airspace.
The “fighter guide” team on the ground enabled the intercept and “visual identification” (VID) that took place over Parma feasible by providing the necessary coordinates and information. The crew of the civilian aircraft restored radio communication with the relevant air traffic control authorities when they reached the aircraft and escorted it for a short distance after arriving at their destination. As a result, the two Eurofighter aircraft returned to the Istrana military airport to resume their shifts as alert readiness aircraft for the national airspace monitoring service.
Using a comprehensive air defence system that has been interconnected with other NATO states ever since peacetime, the Air Force assures that there is continuous monitoring of the National Airspace 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
In 2022, there were a total of 25 immediate take-offs, also known as scrambles, by Air Force interceptor jets. These jets were dispatched to check and identify aircraft that had flown across Italian airspace without authorization or had lost radio contact with national air traffic control agencies. An instant take-off order is transmitted to the operations rooms of the 11th DAMI Group of Poggio Renatico (Italy) and the 22nd DAMI Group of Licola by the CAOC (Combined Air Operation Centre) of Torrejon (Spain), which is responsible for the surveillance service of the southern European airspace. The DAMI Department ensures that the Aerospace Control Brigade, which acts as both the Service Provider and the contact for the Armed Forces, is placed in charge of the two Groups to provide effective leadership.
