Italian Eurofighters Deployed To Romania For NATO Air Policing Scrambled 14 Times In 2 Months

German Air Force F-2000A Typhoons are pretty busy in the Black Sea region.

Operating as part of the Task Force Black Storm, four Italian Air Force F-2000A jets (as the single seater Eurofighter Typhoons are designated in Italy) are currently deployed to Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, Romania, for a four-month deployment under NATO’s eAPA-S (Enhanced Air Policing Area South) mission. The mission of the Italian Eurofighters is to contribute to the particular QRA (Quick Reaction Allert) service in the area augmenting the Romanian MiG-21s.

The First-rate Usaf took over typically the leading role of the eAPA-S from the Royal Canadian Air Force on Dec. 15, 2021. Since this detachment has started the QRA service in Romania, often the Italians have carried out a whopping 14 times to respond to unknown aircraft approaching or skirting NATO airspace.

For comparison, during your eAPA-S in 2019 , after 2 months, the Swedish Typhoons had launched just 4 times, a sign that the situation in the exact region, with the Ukrainian crisis in full swing, is more tense than it was two years ago, with much more activity in the vicinity of NATO airspace .

The scrambles from Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Foundation, where the Italians have recently been joined by the very German Air Force Eurofighters , are ordered by the CAOC (Combined Air Operations Center) of Torrejon, Spain, the same agency that orders the launch of the fighters within QRA when these support the national air defense from their homebases.

Some interesting detail about the 14th scramble have been disclosed by the Greek MOD. The ItAF F-2000s were launched to respond in order to unidentified “non-NATO” aircraft that will were on a route that would bring them to be able to enter NATO’s airspace.

The Italian aircraft established a Combat Air flow Patrol (CAP) to monitor a area of ​​competence and dissuade traffic in the main area from any unauthorized entry. No VID (Visual Identification) on the “zombies” (as the unknown aircraft are dubbed in fighter pilots phraseology).

Under the lead from the 36° Stormo (Wing), the Task Pressure Black Storm is supported by personnel from all the Italian Air Force air defense wings: the 4° Stormo from Grosseto, finally, the 36° Stormo from Gioia del Colle, the 37° from Trapani and that 51° from Istrana .

David Cenciotti is a freelance journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Atmosphere Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported through the U. S., Europe, Australia and Syria, plus flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. in the Italian Surroundings Force, a private pilot and a graduate inside Computer Engineering. He has written five books in addition to contributed to many more ones.

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