The Italian Navy: Getting Ready to Operate the F-35BJSF

摘要

Italy's participation in the Lockheed Martin F-35 LIGHTNING Ⅱ Joint Strike Fighter programme is the result of a strategic vision that, through several parliaments, has been considered as the best platform to satisfy the operational needs of the Italian Armed Forces. The Italian involvement in the F-35 programme was initially determined in 1998 with a US$1 OM contribution to the F-35 JSF Concept Demonstration Phase. Subsequently, in April 2009, Parliament approved the acquisition of both F-35A and F-35B fighter aircraft variants. It was originally planned that 69 F-35As and 62 F-35Bs would be acquired but this was later cut to 60 F-35As and 15 F-35Bs for the Aeronautica Militare and 15 F-35Bs for the Marina Militare. The navy's first F-35B was delivered on 25 January 2018. Escorted by a F-2000A Eurofighter TYPHOON, a KC-767 tanker for in-flight refuelling and a C-130J configured with an oceanic search-and-rescue capability, the aircraft took off from the F-35 Final Assembly and Check Out Facility at Cameri, Italy on 1 February and landed the same day at the Naval Air Station of Patuxent River in Maryland, US. After being submitted to the Electromagnetic Environmental Effects certification at the Battlespace Simulation Test Center, the aircraft flew to the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) in Beaufort, South Carolina where it was assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501)of the Marine Corps'F-35B Training Center. On 13 June 2019 the second F-35B left Cameri to join the first aircraft. The navy will receive its third F-35B in June 2021.