In Pictures: what a multinational MEDEVAC mission involving 11 helicopters looks like

Published on: July 21, 2015 at 11:58 AM

Here’s a look at the Medical Evacuation mission conducted during Italian Blade 2015.

A complex MEDEVAC involving 11 helicopters from 6 different nations was among the highlights of Italian Blade 2015, the largest military rotary-wing exercise held this year in Europe at Viterbo airfield, about 80 km north of Rome, Italy.

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Here’s a look at the Medical Evacuation mission conducted during Italian Blade 2015.Related articles

On Jun. 29, 1x Italian Army NH-90, 1x Italian Navy EH-101, 1x German Air Force CH-53 and 2x German Army UH-1Ds, 2x Austrian AB-212s, 1x Hungarian Mi-17, a Slonenian Cougar and 2x Czech Air Force Mi-24s simulated the medical evacuation of wounded soldiers from a site located near Tarquinia, in a simulated contested battlefield.

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Our photographer Alessandro Fucito took all the images of the operation that you can find in this post.

Italian Blade 2015 096 — A Luftwaffe CH-53G approaching the landing zone.

Italian Blade 2015 107 — A NH.90TTH of the 26º Gruppo AvEs (Aviazione Esercito) with side mounted machine guns lands during the MEDEVAC mission.

Italian Blade 2015 113 — Soldiers getting out of the Hungarian Mi-17 to secure the area.

Italian Blade 2015 128 — AB.212 and UH-1Ds approaching the landing zone

Italian Blade 2015 137 — Snipers aboard the Slovenian Cougar check for any hidden threat

Italian Blade 2015 150 — One of the Austrian Agusta-Bell 212 helicopters from Linz-Hörsching

Italian Blade 2015 156 — One of the two Czech Mi-24 gunships providing cover to the entire operation

Italian Blade 2015 176 — German soldiers provide cover to a landing NH-90

Italian Blade 2015 183 — The Italian Navy AW.101 ASH from Sarzana-Luni airport was the only naval helicopter to take part in the exercise

Italian Blade 2015 201 — The wounded soldiers are aboard: the armada can egress the area at low altitude

Image credit: The Aviationist’s Alessandro Fucito

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By David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a 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 Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.