On September 6, an Italian Air Force Gulfstream E.550 CAEW (reg. MM622293 – c/s PERSEO71) flew from Pratica di Mare Air Base to Šiauliai, Lithuania. On September 9, the aircraft flew to Reykjavik, Iceland. In the following days, particularly on the 11th and 12th, the aircraft operated, departing alternately from Reykjavik and Šiauliai, and orbited north of Iceland for several hours.
These missions were carried out in close connection with the activities of the Russian fleet in the North Sea (and Russian Navy aircraft) during the Okean 2024 exercise. As of this moment (7:30 PM CEST), the aircraft is flying from Lithuania to conduct another surveillance mission (or possibly reposition to Iceland).
It is worth noting that, currently, the Italian CAEW aircraft are the only assets of this type possessed by NATO (while waiting for similar aircraft to be deployed by the USAF)
Leave a comment