"Exercise Mare Aperto 2010"
17th March 2010 - Sardinia and Mediterranean Sea, Italy

Every year the Italian Navy organises the most important exercise called “Mare Aperto” where a big number of ships, ground troops and aircrafts are involved together to improve their skills and coordination.

The 2010 edition took place from 9^th to 24^th March, including another exercise called “Amphex 2010”, in Sardinia and in a portion of Mediterranean Sea south of the island. All activities had been carrying out under the direction of the Comandante in Capo della Squadra Navale (Admiral of Squadron) Luigi Binelli Mantelli and of the Comandante della Task Force Anfibia (CATF) (Admiral of Division) Claudio Gaudiosi. Twelve ships, two submarines and eighteen aircrafts for a total of 2.500 militaries were involved in the exercise. The Italian Army, the Italian Air Force and some units of French forces had also participated to support and integrate the operations.

During this period of intensive activity we had the chance to be embarked on the aircraft carrier “Giuseppe Garibaldi” for one day to know more about the exercise and to follow more closely the actions of the embarked Air Wing “Gruppo Aerei Imbarcati (GRUPAER)” equipped with the AV-8B Plus II.

“Mare Aperto 2010” Exercise

It’s the biggest exercise organized by the Italian Navy to increase the operative skills, the readiness and the efficacy of all forces (ground, air and sea) that are involved in the operations.

All potential situations the Navy units can face during the real operations are simulated in order to develop their organisation, coordination and synergies. The surveillance of maritime areas, the control of the piracy, the electronic war and the air shooting training are some of the operations carried out during the exercise with the objective to consolidate the abilities of each unit.

This year a great number of units were involved including ships, ground troops and the aircrafts, coming from the air bases of Maristaeli Luni, Maristaeli Catania and Maristaer Grottaglie, embarked on the “Giuseppe Garibaldi” aircraft carrier and on other ships. The Italian Air Force participated to the exercise with four Eurofighters, four F-16s, three Tornados, five AMXs and three MB339 mainly operating from the air base of Decimomannu, Sardinia.

The French Navy also took part in the operations with one ship, the Corvet “CDT Ducuing”, and one Breguet Atlantic while the French Air Force with two E-3F Sentry AEW.

“Amphex 2010” Exercise

Related with “Mare Aperto 2010”, this exercise simulated a potential instable situation between different countries with different ethnics and cultures. This virtual situation is very close to today’s real theatres in the world.

There were two different countries “Charlie” and “Bravo”. “Charlie” was a strong state with a stable government and considered the territory of Bravo historically belonging to its, while “Bravo” was a small state without a government, with low social security and some minorities who were always in conflict with “Charlie”. The United Nations intervened to keep security and peace in “Bravo”, but “Charlie did not agree with this action and hindered the organisation. So, given this situation, two developed countries “Alpha” and “Delta” decided to support the UN operations against “Charlie” and to carry on a “Peace Keeping” operation.

Because of “Charlie” was not a country developed as much as the UN’s allies he had less military and economic sources than its enemies. “Delta” and “Alpha” unit included the aircraft carrier “Garibaldi”, the ships “Mimbelli”, “San Giusto”, “Libeccio” and “Euro”, “Vesuvio” and the submarine “Scirè”. Their Naval air force fleet was composed by seven AV-8B Harrier II Plus, four EH101, one Piaggio P180, one SH3D, six AB212 and one Breguet Atlantic. Ground troops were represented by the “Reggimento San Marco”.

“Charlies” ’ forces were the ships “Bersagliere”, “Fenice” and “Urania”, “Fulgosi” and the submarine “Prini”. Its air force fleet was only composed by three AV8B Harrier, two AB212 and one Breguet Atlantic. The Italian Army participated to the exercise with the troops of “17^° Reggimento Sforzesca”, “7° Reggimento Articavallo Milano” and “3° Reggimento Bersaglieri” as “Charlie” units.

What mainly differed from “Mare Aperto” exercise was the impact of media and jurisdiction on strategic, political and military decisions. The exercise system was working based on the “cause-effect” principle: the different media, political and legal situations were daily influencing the operations and decisions of the day after and so on…

Politicians and military commanders of each “state” had to act, manage and decide based on the evolution of the military situation but also on the civil and political ones.

This particular exercise had different multidisciplinary targets in order to train all units on not only military aspects. The main tasks were: managing and divulging intern and extern communications; managing the pressure of the public opinion and journalists; analysing and handling the evolutions of events on real time; developing communications and cooperation between military authorities and political advisors; following and being aware about all diplomatic and legal circumstances.

The “Giuseppe Garibaldi” aircraft carrier

The Carrier Vessel “Giuseppe Garibaldi” was conceived as a performing Command and Control ship fitted to carry, at the same time, a substantial amount of aircraft of different environments. It was built for the Italian Navy by “Fincantieri – Cantieri Navali Italiani” shipyards in Monfalcone according to a program whose goal was to modernise the Navy. The carrier was laid down on 26^th March 1981, launched on 4^th June 1983 and finally commissioned to the Italian Navy on 31^st July 1985. At that time it was the largest and most prestigious vessel built for the Navy after the War and the first so highly developed ship built by an Italian shipyard. Between May 2002 and May 2003 “Garibaldi” underwent a full scale transformation process in order to enlarge the flight deck and to add modern satellite and communication suites.

Depending on the most suitable configuration according to the different operational scenarios, the ship can carry an average of 12 aircrafts.

The air component is modulated in order to accomplish the main operational duties assigned to the Italian Navy. It includes the VSTOL (Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing) AV8 B Plus II aircraft, fitted to ensure air defence, surveillance and naval and land close air support, light helicopters AB212 and medium helicopters SH-3D and EH 101.

Due to its flexibility “Garibaldi” has proven a great success against the submarine threat as well. Moreover, this ship demonstrated during her long and rich active duty service to be able to project capabilities at sea and from the sea in many operational theatres, ranging from Mediterranean to the Horn of Africa and the Persian Gulf.

The embarked Air Wing

The Italian Navy Air Wing “Gruppo Aerei Imbarcati”, also called “Wolves” due to their unit emblem, was born on February 1991 and began its activity on the USMC air base of Cherry Point (USA) where pilots and specialists started the training program for the future aircraft destined to the Italian Navy: the Harrier II. On 7th June 1991 the first two TAV-8B were delivered to the Italian authorities and on 23rd August took place the delivery ceremony on board of the Italian aircraft carrier “Giuseppe Garibaldi” moored in Norfolk; one month later the Wing moved to Italy on Grottaglie Navy Air Base not so far from Taranto where the ship “Garibaldi” is based.

From 1994 to 1997 the Air Wing received all granted aircrafts, but on 1995 the unit was already involved in real operations taking part to the Multinational Operation “United Shield” in Somalia: three AV-8B Plus fulfilled a great number of mission like recognition and close air support to the American and Italian troops.

From March to June 1997 the Air Wing participated to the Operation “Alba Neo” (Albania Non Combat Evacuation Operation) with its armed aircrafts ready on “scramble”.

On 1999 the Wolves took part to the NATO Operation “Allied Force” in Kosovo, operating from the aircraft carrier “Garibaldi” and carrying out the first real combat missions against the enemy targets in the Balkans.

After the 9/11 the Air Wing achieved more than 800 flight hours during the Operation “Enduring Freedom” taking off from the “Garibaldi” dislocated in the Indian Ocean.

The last Operation in which the unit has participated was the Operation “Leonte” in Lebanon on 2006 with recognition missions over the Lebanese coasts.

The AV-8B Harrier II Plus of the Italian Navy is a VSTOL (Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing), one sit, multirole, transonic aircraft equipped with the multimodal radar APG-65, FLIR and an advanced avionic that together with night goggles ANVIS 9, allow the Harrier to operate during the day and the night.

The AV-8B Plus is a versatile aircraft thanks to the wide range of weapons it can use.  The main task of the Italian Harriers is the air defense of the Naval Fleet using its 25mm cannon GAU 12 with the typical configuration of two AIM 120 AMRAAM  and  two AIM9L “Sidewinder”.

For any air to ground missions it can load a payload of 5000 Kilograms of weapons including AGM 65F missiles, MK 82, Mk 83, GBU 12 and GBU 16 bombs using the lighting pod IR and TV “Lighting II”.

The auto protection system includes the pod Jammer ALQ 164, a Radar Warning Receiver ALR 67, an anti-jam radio system KY 58 and Havequick I and II.

The future of the Italian Navy : the “Cavour” aircraft carrier

The aircraft carrier “Cavour” is the third unit of Marina Militare (Italian Navy) to receive the name of the illustrious historical Italian character. In fact its predecessors were the first class transport ship from 1884 to 1894 and the battle ship rebuilt in the middle of 1930s and sunk by the English attack during the “night of Taranto” on 1940 in the IIWW.

The construction of this new aircraft carrier started on 17^th July 2001 in the shipyard of Riva Trigoso (GE). The sea tests began on 18^th December 2006 while the delivery to the Italian Navy took place on 27^th March 2008.

For the Marina Militare this project is unique and ambitious firstly because of it’s the first Italian ship that can be classified, from the delivery, as an aircraft carrier (CVH).

The “Cavour” is an important naval instrument with high Command and Control capabilities for future international joint forces operations: the main task is not limited to carry aircrafts and helicopters (it can host a maximum of 20 machines among helicopters and aircrafts), but also to shelter troops and amphibious vehicles, to move them in operational areas and to give them ground support from the sea.

The new unit will be able to embark and operate all kind of aircrafts and helicopters owned by the Italian Navy: the helicopters EH 101, NH 90, SH 3D and the VSTOL AV-8B Harrier II Plus. The future JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) Lockeed Martin F 35B (22 aircrafts ordered by the Marina Militare) will be able to operate from the new ship too.

The flight deck is 220 m long and 34 m wide and has a ski-jump with an inclination of 12° that helps aircrafts to take off with the maximum payload. The hangar can host 12 helicopters or 8 aircrafts and is connected with the flight deck through two elevators; it can also harbor till 100 light vehicles or a mix between aircrafts and military vehicles.

Although the aircraft carrier “Cavour” is still not completely operative, it has been carrying out its first mission from 19 January 2010 in Haiti to rescue and help the local population stuck by the earthquake. More than 1000 civil and military units have been involved in this operation called “White Crane” where the ship is covering the role of mobile hospital, logistic center, and operative base of some EH101 and SH3D helicopters.

                                                                                            Luca G. Polidori

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