Italian Air Force

Early history and World War I

Among the earlier adopters of military aviation, Italy's air arm dates back to 1884, when the Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito) was authorised to acquire its own air component. The Air Service (Corpo Aeronautico Militare) operated balloons based near Rome.

Palazzo dell'Aeronautica, headquarters of the Italian Air Force.

In 1911, reconnaissance and bombing sorties during the Italo-Turkish War by the Servizio Aeronautico represented the first ever use of heavier than air aircraft in armed conflict.

The Regia Aeronautica and World War II

On 28 March 1923, the Italian air force was founded as an independent service by King Vittorio Emanuele III of the Kingdom of Italy. This air force was known as the Regia Aeronautica (Royal Air Force). During the 1930s, the fledgeling Regia Aeronautica was involved in its first military operations, first in Ethiopia in 1935, and later in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939. After a period of neutrality, Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940 alongside Germany. The Regia Aeronautica could deploy more than 3,000 aircraft, although less than 60% were serviceable. It fought from the icy steppes of Russia to the sand of the North African desert, losing men and machines.

After the armistice of 8 September 1943, Italy was divided into two sides, and the same fate befell the Regia Aeronautica. The Air Force was split into the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force in the south aligned with the Allies, and the pro-Axis Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana in the north until the end of the war. The end of the hostilities, on 8 May 1945, opened the gates to the rebirth of military aviation in Italy.

The birth of the Aeronautica Militare and the Cold War

Italian North American P-51D Mustang exhibited at the museum of Vigna di Valle

A popular vote by the people resulted in the end of the Kingdom of Italy and the establishment of the Italian Republic on 18 June 1946. Hence the Regia Aeronautica lost its "Royal" designation, and it became the Aeronautica Militare, a name that it has continued to hold ever since.

The Peace Treaty of Paris of 1947 placed severe restrictions on all of the Italian armed forces, but then the establishment of NATO in 1949 with Italy as a founding member brought about the necessity for the modernization of all of the Italian armed forces, including the Italian Air Force. American military aid sent by the Mutual Defense Assistance Program brought about the introduction of American-made P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang propeller-driven fighter planes. Then in 1952, the Italian Air Force was granted jet fighters for the first time, American F-84G Thunderjets and F-86D Sabre jets. Next F-84F jet fighters and C-119 Flying Boxcar transport planes were sent from the United States to the Italian Air Force. The reborn Italian aviation industry also began to develop and produce a few ingenious aircraft designs of its own, such as the Fiat G91, the Aermacchi MB-326, the Piaggio Aero P.166, and the line of Agusta-Bell helicopters.

The first supersonic fighters to serve in the Italian Air Force were American-designed F-104 Starfighters that were produced by a group of several European aircraft companies that included Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm, Dornier, Fiat, Fokker, and SABCA. During the 1970s, the Air Force acquired the Italian Aeritalia G222 and the modern American C-130 Hercules tactical transport planes, capable of carrying cargo or paratroopers. It also received the new Lockheed-Aeritalia F-104S Starfighter fighters for ground attack and air-defence purposes.

Italian Eurofighter Typhoon

Italian Air Force Hercules C-130J-30 departs the 2014 Royal International Air Tattoo, England

A push to expand the Italian aircraft industry led Italy into the trilateral project that developed the Panavia Tornado fighter-bomber and air-defence fighters along with West Germany and the United Kingdom. This was a huge development and production project. Tornado fighters are still in service with all three countries, plus a few more, as of 2012. Also, Italian companies worked together with the Embraer Company of Brazil in the smaller project of developing and producing the AMX International AMX aircraft.

From the end of the Cold War to 2013

In 1990, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Italy joined the coalition forces, and for the first time in 45 years Italian pilots and aircraft were assigned to combat operations. With the need to replace the obsolescent F-104 Starfighters, Italy joined with Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom in the development of the Eurofighter Typhoon. With the Eurofighter Typhoon still some years from introduction to service, in 1994, 24 Air Defence Versions of the Panavia Tornado were leased from the United Kingdom for a period of 10 years. The ADV Tornados served as fighter-interceptors to supplement and then to replace the old F-104 Starfighters. The last of the Italian F-104s was withdrawn from service in 2004.

Armed conflicts in Somalia and Mozambique and on the nearby Balkan Peninsula, led to the Italian Air Force becoming a participant in multinational air forces, such as the NATO force over the former Yugoslavia. This latter one occurred just a few minutes flying time east of the Italian peninsula, and the commanders-in-chief of the Italian Air Force soon saw the need to improve the Italian air defences.

The Eurofighter Typhoons were originally expected to enter service beginning in the year 2000, but this did not happen on time. Hence the Italian Air Force needed to search for a supplement, and then a replacement for the Panavia Tornado Air Defence Version fighters that the Italian government had leased from the United Kingdom. This lease was expiring in 2004, and the Italian government did not want to take on the high expense of extending the lease. Hence the Italian government leased 34 F-16 Fighting Falcon multirole fighter planes on multi-year leases from the US. The last of these fighters was returned to the United States in May 2012, following the Air Force's acquisition of a sufficient number of Eurofighter Typhoons over a period of several years. These Typhoons will serve at first in the mission of air-defence fighters after finally having replaced all of the F-104s, all of the Tornado ADVs and all of the F-16s.

The capability of the Italian Air Force in air transportation has been improved with the acquisition of 22 American C-130J tactical transports, and 12 Alenia C-27J Spartans, which have replaced all of the G222s. In 2003, the Italian Air Force extended its capabilities to small-scale land warfare by small special forces units. This was done by forming the 17º Stormo Incursori ("17th Special Operations Wing"), also known as RIAM, Reparto Incursori Aeronautica Militare (Air Force Raiders Group). This is a unit that is aimed primarily towards missions such as raids on land-based aeronautical compounds, on Forward Air Control units, and in Combat Search and Rescue operations.^[1]