From the end of July to the beginning of December, a contingent of Italian air forces is stationed at the 22 Tactical Air Base in Malbork. Its core consists of four Eurofighter Typhoons, and its main, though not one, task is to support the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission. At the invitation of the Commander of the Task Force Air “White Eagle”, a group of journalists had the opportunity to get to know the functioning of the Italian task force up close.
Baltic Air Policing
The purpose of the Baltic Air Policing mission is to ensure the integrity of NATO’s airspace. The mission began in 2004 with the accession of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to the Alliance, which do not have sufficient air power to defend themselves on their own. Each shift lasts an average of four months. The lead state has to keep two fighters ready for take-off for fifteen minutes, and another four fighters in a thirty-minute standby state 24 hours a day.
Initially, four fighters from one country participated in each shift, but after the Russian invasion of Ukraine since 2014, at least two, usually three countries participate in each shift – each delegating four fighters. In 2014–2015, each shift had four planes from four countries.
NATO fighters are stationed in the bases of Šiauliai in Lithuania and Ämari in Estonia, and periodically also in Malbork. All contingents report directly to the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (SACEUR), who commands the fighters through the Multinational Air Operations Center (CAOC) in Uedem, Germany. Upon announcement of the alert, the CAOC sends an intercept order transmitted by the Control and Reporting Center (CRC) in Kormiałów, Lithuania, which then directs the fighters.
In the past, all contingents were changed simultaneously every three months, but at present this schedule is not maintained. Italians began their duty on August 1, 2022, together with Hungarians stationed in Šiauliai and Germany based in Ämari. While the Hungarians and Germans completed their missions at the end of September, Italians will be present in Malbork until December. Now, on the Baltic Air Policing mission, they cooperate with the Polish F-16 from Šiauliai and the Belgian F-16 from Ämari.
Flights are always performed with two AIM-120 missiles, two IRIS-T missiles, additional fuel tanks and a targeting pod.
(Maciej Hypś, Konflikty.pl)
Task Force Air “White Eagle”
Fighters and all contingent personnel were drawn from all four Typhoon-equipped Italian Air Force wings: 4. Grosseto Wings, 36. Giola del Colle Wings, 37. Trapani Wings and 51. Istrana Wings. The entire contingent is made up of about 130 soldiers who constitute a completely self-sufficient (apart from fuel) unit inside the Polish air base.
Preparations for the ferrying of four fighters to Poland began in June 2021, when Malbork was visited by a delegation of the Italian air force to carry out a reconnaissance of the conditions at the base and determine what will be needed for the successful conduct of the mission. The second inspection, aimed at defining the technical details, took place in February 2022.
The Italians had one large hangar at their disposal, with all the back-up facilities of the unit. Inside the containers and tents, there are staff rooms, a canteen, check-in rooms, rooms for pilots on duty and all the facilities typical for a fighter squadron. There is even a fan zone for the upcoming world championships. To make you feel at home, Italians brought and hung even pictures of Italian Air Force planes from WWII on the walls. Ten days passed from the arrival of the first plane on July 18 to the announcement of readiness.
The contingent is headed by Colonel Salvatore Florio, who started his career while still flying the F-104. So far, he has flown over 2,900 hours. He is a specialist in the field of electronic warfare and human resources management, and an instructor of tactics in air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. He took part in previous Italian contingents at Baltic Air Policing and in Iceland, and in 2011 – in the “Unified Protector” operation in Libya. He also performed many staff and administrative functions, including a member of the Italian delegation to the Joint Program Office – an organization overseeing the development of the F-35 multi-role fighter. The remaining pilots include both very experienced pilots with 2,000 flying hours and newcomers with 300 flying hours.
Colonel Salvatore Florio.
(Maciej Hypś, Konflikty.pl)
The main task of Task Force Air “White Eagle” is to perform combat duty twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. NATO requires two fighters to be ready for take-off and a third to be in reserve. All contingents, however, always have four planes so that in the event of a more serious failure of one of them, three planes are still available. The Italians keep their planes in a very good condition and their operational readiness so far is 97%.
The second task of the Italian fighters is Enhanced Vigilance Activity – supporting Polish and other NATO air forces in guarding the eastern border of Poland in the Belarusian and Ukrainian sections. It is 50 kilometers from the base in Malbork to the border with the Kaliningrad Oblast (about three minutes of Eurofighter’s flight without supersonic speed), to the border with Belarus – 250 kilometers (fifteen minutes of flight), and to the border with Ukraine – 370 kilometers (20 minutes of flight).
Although Typhoons can carry a maximum of six AIM-120 AMRAAM mid-range air-to-air missiles and two IRIS-T short-range IRIS-T missiles, only two AMRAAMs and two IRIS are carried by standard during Baltic Air Policing on-call duty. In addition, two additional fuel tanks are suspended under the wings, and on the central under-fuselage node – a targeting pod to increase the range of visual identification.
The dislocation of the Italian contingent to Poland is also symbolic and somewhat prestigious for Italians. As a result, Italy became the first NATO country whose fighters took part in all air policing operations. Previously, they were stationed in Lithuania and Estonia. In addition, they took part in missions in Iceland and Romania, and additionally, while stationed at home bases, they are rotatingly responsible for guarding the airspace of Slovenia, Montenegro and Albania, which do not have their own fighters. Italians participate in these missions almost all the time. On December 1, the same day that Task Force Air “White Eagle” will end its operations, the Italian contingent in Romania will begin combat duty.
The fighter that is ready for flight cannot be approached by anyone except its pilot and designated mechanics. The photo shows a backup machine.
(Maciej Hypś, Konflikty.pl)
Alpha Scramble, Tango Scramble
Italian pilots fly every day. Mostly these are practice flights, in NATO jargon referred to as Tango Scramble. During them, pilots practice various elements of their craft, mastering themselves in interception and aerial combat. Whenever there is an opportunity, they conduct training air combat with pilots from allied countries. As mentioned, contingents from other countries are stationed in Lithuania and Estonia, and Swedes are always eager to meet at the Baltic Sea. You can also pair with the MiG-29s stationed in Malbork, although the latter, according to Colonel Florio, are no longer a valuable opponent for Eurofighters.
The second type of mission is Alpha Scramble, i.e. real flights to intercept unidentified planes in NATO’s area of responsibility. Unidentified planes are, of course, Russian machines taking off from the Kaliningrad Oblast or the St. Petersburg region. The interception of aircraft does not mean that they have breached the airspace of a NATO country, but only that they operate in its vicinity, do not use transponders and generally do not cooperate with the relevant civilian air traffic controllers. While in international airspace, they have the right to do so, but thus create a danger to air traffic. Therefore, such planes need to be identified and frequently escorted so that air traffic controllers can see NATO planes on the radar and thus know where the Russian planes are.
According to NATO procedures, no more than fifteen minutes can elapse between the announcement of the alert and the take-off of the two aircraft. Italians are usually in ten minutes. It is less than 200 meters from the quarters of the pilots on duty to the planes standing on the apron or in a light folding hangar. Apart from the moment of restoring combat readiness after the flight is completed, there are always three planes ready for take-off. The start looks the same, regardless of whether we are talking about the Alpha Scramble or Tango Scramble missions. The pilots usually find out whether the task is real or just practice already in the air. There are also situations when planes took off for a training flight, but in the meantime a Russian plane appeared in the area, which needs to be identified and the mission from the school one turns into a combat one. That is why fighters always take off with real missiles.
From the beginning of duty to our visit to the base, the Italians carried out nineteen Alpha Scrambles. The first combat mission was carried out on August 17; it was one of those incidents where fighters already in the air on a training mission were diverted to intercept an unidentified aircraft. Interestingly, in this case it was not about an airplane over the Baltic Sea, but about a machine flying towards Poland from the territory of Belarus. In the end, of course, there was no violation of Polish airspace.
Polish MiG-29.
(Maciej Hypś, Konflikty.pl)
Twenty-five Russian planes were identified in these nineteen interceptions, and photos were taken in twenty-four cases. Photographic documentation is made in various ways: with the pilots’ mobile phones, GoPro cameras installed in cockpits, as well as with the use of sights. Sometimes NATO and Russia planes fly just a few meters apart.
Colonel Florio could not go into detail but said that the Russians were not always professional. You can only guess that sometimes simulated fights take place, in which the pilots of both sides try to take the best position to shoot. Among the aircraft encountered there are various versions of the Su-27, Su-30, Su-24, as well as Ił-20 reconnaissance aircraft and transport machines. The biggest move in business was on September 22, when the Italians intercepted six Su-24M, two Su-30SM and two Su-27P on one day.
According to unofficial information, the Italians will be replaced by the Dutch. Perhaps it will be an opportunity to see their F-35, with whom they were already on a similar mission in Bulgaria this year.
Maciej Hypś, Konflikty.pl
