November 10th, 2015 – Today begins the international air defense exercise which sees the Italian Air Force collaborate with the air forces of Algeria, France, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia, the organizing country of this edition. “It is a training event – said the Italian Air Force in a statement – which is part of the activities of the Initiative 5 + 5, established with an agreement in 2004 that sees the countries of the Western Mediterranean basin committed to promote cooperation on common security and defense issues, such as maritime surveillance, training, civil defense, search and rescue and surveillance and defense of the airspace.” A military transport plane, in this case a Tunisian one, will simulate being a civilian aircraft gone “renegade” – that is to saw a civilian aircraft that is either arriving or transiting through national airspace and whose conduct is potentially dangerous due to a possible terrorist attack. The centers of command and control and radar surveillance of the countries affected by the route of the aircraft, as well as pilots and staff of the air defense bases, will have to react in a timely and coordinated manner to intercept and lead – just as they would in real life – the threat outside their national airspace and towards an emergency landing at a designated airport, as identified by the ground according to established protocols. The objective of the exercise, which is conducted annually (the 2014 edition was under the Italian leadership), is to promote and consolidate the adoption of common procedures in handling these cases, where the competence of individual nations remains but where it is essential – given the speed and complexity of the required counteractions – to act in a coordinated manner between neighboring countries. (Red)
