Italian F-35Bs on ITS Cavour identified

itamilradarMay 30, 20221 Mins read45

This photo was released by the NATO Striking and support forces account. The ITS Cavour (C-550) is seen during the ‘Open Sea’ exercise.

🇮🇹 @ItalianNavy CAVOUR CSG is currently, and for the first time in history, under @NATO command conducting #NeptuneShield.

This is the natural evolution of #NATO’s ability to integrate high-end maritime strike capabilities to support the defence of the Alliance.#WeAreNATO pic.twitter.com/rFodERCJ5x
— STRIKFORNATO (@STRIKFORNATO) May 30, 2022

We had already noted in a previous article that both an F-35B of the Italian Navy and one of the Italian Air Force were present on the Cavour but had not been able to identify the aircraft.

Today, thanks to this new photo we can say that the F-35B of the Italian Navy has the registration MM7454 (first flight October 2021) while that of the Italian Air Force has the registration MM7453 (first flight September 2019)

This is not the first time that an Italian Air Force F-35B has operated from the aircraft carrier Cavour. It has already happened, for example, last November (we talked about it here)

The final Italian goal is to create a single task force with aircraft from the Navy and the Air Force.