Ultralight without direct radio contact in Northern Italy, immediate take-off for two Istrana fighters

It was an ultralight aircraft that took off from the Island of Elba and headed for Bresso airport, where the small plane was then escorted to landing.

ISTRANA. On the afternoon of Sunday 17 July, two Eurofighter interceptor fighters of the 51 Stormo di Istrana (Treviso) of the Italian Air Force received an immediate take-off order – in technical jargon scramble – from the Caoc (Combined air operation center) of Torrejon in Spain, a NATO organization , responsible for the area, to go and check an unidentified trace of an aircraft that was not in radio contact with the civil air traffic bodies and was en route to northern Italy.

On reaching the aircraft, in coordination with the Aerospace Operations Command (Coa) of Poggio Renatico, the envisaged “visual identification” procedure was carried out to ensure that there were no emergency conditions or security threats: it was an ultralight took off from the Island of Elba and headed for Bresso airport, where the small plane was then escorted to landing.

The two fighters then returned to the Istrana base to resume the readiness shift within the national airspace surveillance service.

There are four Stormi of the Air Force that with Eurofighter assets ensure the Air Defense service: the 4 Stormo of Grosseto, the 36 Stormo of Gioia del Colle, the 37 Stormo of Trapani and the 51 Stormo of Istrana.

Furthermore, since March 2018, the F-35A aircraft of the 32 Stormo di Amendola have also been integrated into the national air defense system, which contribute, with specific operational capabilities and latest generation technology, to the defense of the Italian skies and which have been the first fifth-generation airplanes to be used by NATO to monitor the airspace of the Alliance in a NATO Air Policing operation.