Italian Navy press release
The FREMM first-of-class Carlo Bergamini accepted this new challenge, supporting months of work and preparation and hours of flight test & evaluation executed in the Mar Grande Naval Base and in the Gulf of Taranto, with the unique aim to reach this ambitious goal.
On 31st of October 2023, as part of the NATO exercise Dynamic Mariner and Mare Aperto 23-2, the first RPAS Section of the Italian Navy, led by CDR Fabio Mariani – UAV Department Chief of the Naval Aviation Command (COMFORAER, Comando delle Forze Aeree della Marina Militare) – embarked on ITS Bergamini with the aim to finalize the preparations for this first historical take-off.
Great synergy between the UAV Section and the Commanding officer characterized the intense period of preparation and planning which led to the “green light on the flight deck”, the signal that allow CDR Mariani to carried out the first’s day and night RPAS sorties on 3rd November.
This flight is the last milestone of a long journey started in 2017 expected to provide the Italian Navy Fleet with this advanced technology able to enhance the Maritime Situation Awareness.
The Navy has to overcome several technical design challenges during the installation of this new asset on board of a naval unit while the RPAS Operators & Crews went through a complex flight course carried out in the United States that lasted approximately three months. The training was composed by the theorical & practical Ground Ops qualification, several flight & safety classes, simulator flights, and actual flight training at the Pendleton airport, followed by system ship training performed at the ship simulators located in the Insitu training facility in Bingen (WA). At the completion of the training course, the RPAS Operators were able to carried out several flight sorties from the Italian Ship, posing the first steps to this new capability and becoming Maritime ScanEagle qualified in the Italian Navy.
In a scenario of continuous international geopolitical developments, the use of this innovative and state of the art systems would firmly lead units such as the Italian Frigate FREMM class to become an more flexible and effective, ensuring an even greater integration between the capabilities of the Italian Navy Ship.
