August 28, 2015 – At the Šiauliai air base in Lithuania came to an end the mission “Baltic Frontier” of the Italian Air Task Force, part of the NATO “Baltic Air Policing” mission in the skies of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. As of January 1, four Eurofighter Typhoon Air Force and the pilots, technicians and specialists (in all about 100 military from the 4th Wing of Grosseto, the 36th Wing of Gioia del Colle and the 37th Wing of Trapani, with contributions from other Departments of the Army and Interagency) guaranteed, 24/7, the defense of the airspace above the three Baltic republics. Controllers of the Italian Air Force were also posted at the Lithuanian Center for Control and Carry of Karmelava, to provide training, support and supervision to their Baltic colleagues. In eight months, the Task Force executed a total of 900 flight hours, with 40 Alpha-Scramble (real actions of Air Defense) and over 160 Tango-Scramble (simulated events for training in operational readiness), and many training missions to maintain full operation of the RFA and the operators of the CRC Karmelava. “Excellent” was NATO’s assessment of Italy’s presence: the highest grade for high level reliability and efficiency guaranteed by the men and women of the Air Task Force, for the readiness of the pilots and the entire system of ground support, as well as for the validity of the operating procedures in place.
