Men and women joining the Italian Air Force to serve their country will find unexpected worldwide opportunities in the 46th Air Brigade, the C-130J transport unit of the Aeronautica Militare Italiana, or AMI. The 46th Air Brigade, or wing, based in Pisa, consists of the 2nd and the 50th Gruppos (squadrons) that share twenty-two C-130J Super Hercules, ten of which are the stretched fuselage model. The 46th Brigade, which has served as AMI’s main transport unit since Italy’s military reorganized after World War II, has a third squadron that flies the new C-27J.
“Since our introduction to the stretched fuselage C-130J in August 2000, we have witnessed the potential of the Super Hercules in long-range logistic supply missions,” says Col. Franco Giuri, the 46th Air Brigade commander. “Its ability to operate in the most difficult flying environments has allowed us to put our wheels down safely and effectively where we were prevented before. As we took delivery of the new aircraft, the Italian government continued to increase our missions. The majority of these missions are to support our military detachments in Afghanistan and in Iraq. But a steadily increasing number of taskings have been dedicated to supporting the worldwide humanitarian initiatives of our government agencies and private organizations as well.”
“The C-130J allows us to climb faster and fly faster and higher than we could with its predecessor, the C-130H,” says Col. Filippo Caroselli, the brigade commander. “We also take advantage of the enhanced avionics suite, which includes two separate Global Positioning System, or GPS, receivers that update the aircraft’s integrated inertial navigation system.
“During unassisted visual approaches to remote airstrips in Central Africa, I could ascertain virtual zero deviation in bearing and range,” Caroselli adds. “We are not yet cleared to rely on INS as the main navigation reference system for instrument approaches, but the GPS-based system allows us to descend to safe altitude over a known initial point. From there, we can proceed in VFR tactical navigation once we get visual contact to the ground and recognize the terrain features.”
Advanced avionic equipment provides another advantage — it reduces pilot workload. This decrease in workload is particularly appreciated during the long navigation legs at higher altitudes. “It saves our energy for the tougher and sometimes more dangerous parts of the flight, namely approaches and landings,” Caroselli explains. “Workload and intensity levels increase significantly when we fly into hostile environments. We reduce our exposure by operating at night with night vision goggles.”
The AN/AAR-47 missile warning system, which uses electrooptic sensors to detect missile exhaust and advanced signal processing algorithms and spectral selection to analyze and prioritize threats, further protects Italian C-130J crews.
The normal crew for an Italian C-130J consists of pilot, co-pilot, and two loadmasters. One person is added for operations in combat or hostile theaters. “Sometimes we bring extra crew members with us to familiarize them with particular environments and sites or to turn over normal staff at our detachments,” Caroselli says.
“The ability to understand foreign languages is important to engage in operations in support of humanitarian missions,” Caroselli points out. “We have been tasked a number of these missions since the C-130J was introduced. Those missions were assigned to the C-130J because of its great range, internal volume, and high reliability, even where very limited ground assistance is available.”
Landing on dirt airstrips or on plain paved runways in the middle of nowhere became the rule for the 46th Air Brigade. Such landings then became a new item for the training syllabus. This training has allowed Italian C-130J crews to complete hundreds of difficult missions without a single incident, a source of pride for Giuri. “We now perform humanitarian relief missions with the C-130J on an almost permanent basis,” he says. “We exploit all the available payload and space on board every flight to deliver tons of supplies prepared by the many humanitarian organizations in Italy.”
Super Hercules crews often take off from Pisa and fly indirect routes to their destinations, diverting to military bases or civil airports to be loaded with pallets of food, clothes, shoes, medical supplies, and volunteers heading to the various relief centers along the route. These stops are organized by Italian and international humanitarian groups based in Africa and Asia. For many of these missions, the Italian Air Force operates under either the flag of the United Nations or of NATO.
Very often these supplies and relief materials are handled directly by the 46th Air Brigade personnel in addition to their normal service duties. “While our personnel are considered military assets, they still act as an interface with the local population,” Giuri explains. “We are sent to enforce and defend peace. We enforce peace not only by stopping military force, but also by stretching out a friendly hand when the opportunity arises.”
Many members of the Italian armed forces have established contacts with hospitals, orphanages, and schools both in Afghanistan and Iraq. Sometimes the need is not for food, clothes, or money, but just for some kind of expertise.
“One of the best achievements under my command was the repair of an old diesel engine that supplied electrical power to a little hospital,” recounts Giuri. “The hospital was the only medical facility available in the middle of a deserted highland in Eritrea. We were sent there to support the UN forces interposed between the Eritrean and Ethiopian troops after the armistice was declared in 2002. The engine powered a well pump, an operating room, and a refrigerator for storing pharmaceuticals. One of our flight engineers used his spare time to return that machine back to working condition.”
“Quite often what we deliver to them is not what brings relief,” says Caroselli. “Many men, women, and children have been transported by our C-130Js to hospitals and special care centers in Italy for treatment.”
Andrea Artoni is an aviation writer and consultant based in Switzerland.
Humanitarian Relief Efforts With The C-130J
The recent log of the Italian Air Force’s 46th Air Brigade and its C-130Js shows an impressive series of operations in support of humanitarian activities.
September 2004
Crews carry a field hospital and pharmaceuticals to Beslan, North Ossetia-Alania, after the bloody shootout between Russian security forces and Chechen terrorists who had seized Beslan’s Middle School Number One. The Italian C-130Js are among the first aircraft to land at Belsan.
November 2004
The first Ridare la Luce (Restore Light) mission to Gao, Mali, to fight endemic blindness in the sub-Saharan region is flown. AMI doctors, led by the service’s surgeon general, and military personnel with civilian doctors operate a transportable ophthalmic unit in which they are able to perform 800 medical checks and 150 cataract operations in a two-week period.
November 2004
C-130Js are used to rescue 130 Italian and 163 foreign citizens from Abidjan, Ivory Coast, during a civil war crisis in Operation Ippocampo.
December 2004 – January 2005
Italian citizens struck by the tsunami in Sri Lanka and Thailand are recovered on C-130Js.
May 2005
Tents, stretchers, and covers are transported to the Republic of Georgia after it is struck by severe floods.
June 2005
The second Ridare la Luce mission to Benin is flown, and citizens in Togo are also helped.
September 2005
C-130Js from the 46th Brigade are two of the first eleven aircraft to land at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, carrying humanitarian aid for Hurricane Katrina victims.
October 2005
Transport 217 tons of emergency relief material on two C-130Js from bases in Italy and at Incirlik, Turkey, to Islamabad after the deadly earthquake in Pakistan.
October–November 2005
C-130J crews carry food, pharmaceuticals, hospital equipment, and clothes to the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, in Darfur (Sudan), under UN commission.
December 2005
Perform third Ridare la Luce mission to Gao, Mali. The three missions have logged 3,800 ophthalmic medical checks and 900 operations with great success.
February 2006
Italian Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Leonardo Tricarico inaugurates a children’s hospital in Dungalpitiya, near the Sri Lanka capital of Colombo. The facility was built with funds raised by AMI personnel.
UN and NATO markings are not the only ones worn by 46th Air Brigade C-130Js in humanitarian operations. Rare colors occasionally appear on their tails and sides: the insignia of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The Knights of Malta are well known to have many humanitarian activities in operation in several underdeveloped countries around the world. Not so well known is that the Italian Air Force owes the knights the survival of its transport fleet in the months immediately after the end of World War II when Italy was forbidden to have a large air force. The transport fleet, SIAI Marchetti trimotors, were painted with the red Malta crosses to prevent them from being sent to the scrap yard.
