The two-week “Typhoon Flag 2023” exercise gathered F-2000s from all the Italian Air Force units flying the Eurofighter.
From Aug. 28 to Sept. 8, 2023, Grosseto Air Base, home of the 4° Stormo (Wing), hosted exercise “Typhoon Flag 2023” the most important exercise of the year for the Italian Air Force Eurofighter fleet.
F-2000As (as the single seater Typhoons are designated in Italy in accordance with the MOD’s Mission Design Series – the two-seaters are designated TF-2000A) belonging to the 4°, 36° (based at Gioia del Colle), 37° (Trapani) and 51° Stormo (Istrana) operated from Grosseto to increasing the standardization of all units flying with the Eurofighter while developing new tactics related to the use of the weapons.
Throughout the exercise, the “Weapons Instructors” formed last year during the WIC (Weapons Instructor Course), shared what they learned in “Typhoon Flag 2022” with the younger pilots, in order to train them how to adopt the best tactics and techniques to use the aircraft’s weapons. Noteworthy, the specific goal of this year’s edition of the drills was to develop – in a simulated way – advanced tactics for the use of the MBDA Meteor missile.
Developed by a group of European partners led by MBDA to meet the needs of the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Sweden, the Meteor is considered one of the most lethal BVR missiles available today. The Italian Air Force has selected the long-range missile for the Eurofighter fleet but it hasn’t been very active thus far in fielding it, compared to other partner nations that have already been using it for several years.
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Anyway, considering that the use of the Meteor was a declared theme of the exercise, it’s safe to believe the final integrations have been concluded (or are about to), and the missile will soon appear on the Italian Typhoons.
According to the Italian Air Force, standardization is crucial to take part in NATO missions as part of as part of a Task Force with mixed aircrews, as regularly happening in Kuwait, the Baltic region or Eastern Europe.
On Sept. 5, 2023, Grosseto Air Base hosted the Media Day of “Typhoon Flag 2023” and the photos you can find in this article were taken during the event by The Aviationist‘s contributors Giovanni Maduli and Alessandro Borsetti.
