Talk:Structure of the Italian Air Force

Latest comment: 3 years ago by Noclador in topic Some issues

Some issues edit

The A340 has been eliminated, but the rest of the planes of the 31 Wing are not based at Fiumicino, but at Ciampino. When the A340 was phased in, the deal was that one A319 and two Falcon 900 would be sold. Being unable to sell these planes at the proposed price, the A319 was sent to atitech in Naples for a check and remains in service. The 31 wing originally had 4 F50, two of which sold some time ago, and 5 F900. The two F900 that should have been sold, were instead transferred to the Compagnia Aeronautica Italiana, a bizzjet company located at Ciampino, that belongs to the Italian intelligence services. These two F900 were, in 2016, reregistered I-OUNI and I-TARH, respectively, and joined the two F900LX I-DIEM and I-NEMO already in sercive with the CAI. Two VH139 do belong to the 31 Wing, two more are operated on behalf of the Civil Protection Department by the 31 wing; but they have been (temporarily?) trasfered to the 72 Wing at Frosinone. Also, two P180, operated by the 31 Wing on behalf of the CPD, might have returned to Pratica di Mare, where previously they had belonged to 14 Wing. As far as the P180 are concerned, I do not understand why they have been listed with the 207 Gruppo/70Wing, since indeed, in addition to their SF260, they had received some Partenavia P2006T (and not the P180, but later I don't know). Finally, the Flight Test Center at Pratica di Mare does not only operate the MB339. As far as I can see, these would be some critical issues that should be checked or corrected. I have already updated the 6 and 51 wing, the first being prepared to repalce its Tornadoes with the F35, and the latter now operating its own Typhoons algonside the AMX in a now mixed 132 Gruppo, that is phasing in the first and, gradually, phasing out the latter. LKIT2 (talk) 21:46, 31 May 2020 (UTC)Reply

  • 340 was already taken out.
  • Fiumicino was a remnant that referred to the 340, now taken out.
  • 4 F50, two sold - the article says 2× Falcon 50 so all correct.
  • did they transfer the two 900EX or two of the three 900EASy to the CAI? If you know, please fix the entry.
  • Two VH139, transferred to Frosinone: source?
  • 207 Gruppo: the P2006T were leased in 2016 for three years and returned in 2019; supposedly the air force is using again the P.180 (as before 2016) for the multi-engine pilot training. If you have a more current source, please update the article.
  • Flight Test Center: what planes do they use? if you know them, please list them. The air force's website lists none at the entry of the Reparto Sperimentale Volo (there is a photo of a flight line at the web entry, but it seems only the Typhoon, AMX, and C-27J carry the RS- numbering of the Reparto Sperimentale).
  • 6° Stormo - it was always clear that the F-35A would replace the Tornado, but now we have a source and can add it.
  • 51° Stormo - it is flying the Typhoon since 9 April 2020, it's barely over a month.

None of what you list is a "critical issues". If you want to contribute, then please do; but do so without faulting editors for not updating every article every day. As for your edit to the article: Thank you! noclador (talk) 22:48, 31 May 2020 (UTC)Reply

Well, "critical issues" more in the sense that they have suprised me somewhat, but I'm not really completely sure what's going on in these units. For example I did not know that the P2006T leasing had ended and that the planes were given back. Also, this P.180 issue has left me somewhat unsure. These 15 planes once belonged entirely to the 14th Wing at Pratica di Mare, and 2 additional ones they operated for the CPD. The latter went to 31Wing, at least for a time. Then, in Pratica they formed a separate squadron, the 204 Gruppo, but not for multi-engine pilot training, but for multi-crew pilot training... I guess at Latina, until then, they never had P.180s for multi-engine training. As far as the F900 are concerned, first they bought three F900 EX, and later they added two 900 EASy in order to replace two of the four F50 mentioned above. I'll check an update it, but I think that two 900EX have gone. Regarding the AW139, two of them have a "Repubblica Italiana" livery, and they truely belong to the 31 Wing, while the other two, since they were transferred to the 31 Wing, have an "Aeronautica Militare" livery. This recent ItAF-Press release (May 2020) shows one of them at Frosinone Air Base, but the point is that I don't know if they are on loan or detached, or if they have been given to 72 Wing definitely. Regarding the RSV I know that they have several planes with RS codes, as shown in the link posted, but as they say, there might be frequent changes and therefore I would suggest that instead of putting only the MB399 in the list, it should be simply "various" or something like that. And btw, thanks for the thanks:-) LKIT2 (talk) 23:37, 31 May 2020 (UTC)Reply
The problem is that the Aeronautica website is out of date and barely updated (still much better than the Marina Militare website). Feel free to change the RSV entry. Thank you for the F900 edit. As for the P.180... probably half of the air force personnel doesn't know where they are... and it seems the Aeronautica has now a King Air SIGINT plane (or even two) but no idea who flies them. noclador (talk) 00:20, 1 June 2020 (UTC)Reply