The six Italian Eurofighter Typhoons from the 4th Air Wing of Grosseto’s Air Force base, redeployed to Laage, in North Germany, have flown a total of 68 sorties and 140 flight hours, with a 94% operational availability, during their participation in the NATO driven “Brilliant Ardent ‘10”.
The exercise took place over the Baltic Sea between the 12th and 22nd April, managed by the Allied Air Command of Izmir, in Turkey and saw the participation of around sixty aircraft from Italy, the U.S, Germany, France, Poland, Czech Republic and Turkey.

The Italian Typhoons at Laage Air Base – home of the Eurofighters Typhoons of the JG73 “Steinhoff” – despite the problems connected to the closure of the German air space due to the volcanic ash cloud during the exercise, were included within the ‘Blue Forces’ to perform Air Defence missions following the scenario’s evolution and achieved good results in testing the capability and the interoperability of the Eurofighter with different platforms.
The exercise was based on a NATO-guided ‘Crisis Response Operation’ mission. A specifically conceived simulated scenario was created for the occasion to represent a build up of international tensions between States, worsened by internal uprisings and degenerating into a conflict situation between two hostile countries and their allies.

Source: Alenia