F-35, what will Nave Cavour do in the United States
Departure from Taranto on January 28 for Nave Cavour for the United States where the integration with the F-35 will take place. All the details
American mission for Nave Cavour.
The Cavour aircraft carrier of the Italian Navy will begin qualifying the F-35 B next month.
The aircraft carrier will leave Taranto on Thursday for the United States to reach Norfolk, a military base on the Atlantic coast. Here will begin the activity that will lead to qualify the flight deck, structures, equipment and personnel to obtain certification for the use of the F-35B.
The news is reported today by the Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno . The crew was subjected to preventive isolation in the weeks of preparation for departure to avoid the risk of contagion from Covid-19.
The F-35B is the Stovl (short takeoff and vertical landing) version of the fifth generation Joint Strike Fighter manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The Jsf Lightining II program is implemented in cooperation by the United States and Italy is a second level partner.
Meanwhile, the Navy Aviation will receive its third F-35B in April 2021. At the moment, our armed forces have taken delivery of 15 F-35s, including 12 F-35As and 3 F-35Bs. So the knot on who will receive the fourth F-35B between the Air Force and the Navy has been solved.
All the details.
CAVOUR READY FOR THE "READY FOR OPERATION" MISSION
After the modernization and adaptation work carried out in the military Arsenal of Taranto, the aircraft carrier is now ready for the “Ready for operation” mission. This will allow it to achieve the certifications required to operate the new fifth generation F-35, which will replace the AV-8B Plus Harrier.
“The integration of the new aircraft – explained the Cavour commander, the captain of the vessel Giancarlo Ciappina – will give the Naval Team a potential of the highest order in the world panorama, as well as unique among all the European navies”.
WITH THE US NAVY
After arriving in the United States, for the next six weeks, the qualification campaign for the F-35B will be carried out in close cooperation with the US Navy, especially the Marine Corps.
THE CAVOUR CARRIER
ITS Cavour (CVH 550) is a STOVL (Short Take Off and Vertical Landing) aircraft carrier, built by Fincantieri. It entered service with the Italian Navy in 2009.
As we said, Cavour left the Military Maritime Arsenal of Taranto in May 2020.
ON CAVOUR THE PREPARATION WORK FOR THE USE OF THE F-35B
There, since July 2019, the flagship of the Italian fleet has completed a period of modernization and upgrade of 16 months to operate the F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, worth around 90 million euros.
As Giacomo Cavanna recalled on AresDifesa , "the works involved various aspects including the structural strengthening of the 2-3-4-5 spots, local reconfiguration, increased thermal and acoustic insulation, Thermal Metal Spray treatment for 4,200 square meters of the flight deck , SAPF area and ALIS installation, modifications to the ship's combat system, new logistic structures for armament, etc. ".
15 F-35B AT THE MARINA
The Navy is receiving 15 F-35Bs, "of which the next aircraft will be delivered in April and will be the first aircraft to be loaded on the unit".
The time schedule, barring unforeseen delays, provides: "with this pace, these deadlines and with the diagram for assigning the aircraft to the Navy, Cavour will obtain the IOC in 2024 with 8 aircraft delivered and at least 12 Combat Ready pilots". As explained by the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, reported by AresDifesa .
THE CONTEST OF THE F-35B BETWEEN AM AND MM
At the moment our armed forces have taken delivery of 15 F-35s, of which 12 F-35As and 3 F-35Bs.
The Navy has ordered a total of 15 F-35B fighters. The Air Force also ordered the same quantity of Model B, as well as 60 F-35A Ctol (conventional take-off).
The Italian F-35s leave the assembly line of the Faco di Cameri, the plant managed by Leonardo and used to assemble F-35s for Italy and the Netherlands.
The knot to be solved is the distribution between the two armed forces and then the management and use of the 30 specimens (15 each) of the Stovl version of the F-35 fighter. A controversy that risks delaying the achievement of the Initial Operating Capacity (Ioc) for that weapon system.
"After the first two Italian F-35Bs have gone to the Navy and the third to the Air Force, a decision is expected, perhaps within a few weeks, on who will get the fourth next year as the two military branches compete for primacy in the program, ”Tom Kington wrote in Defense News last November.
We now know that the fourth will go to the Navy.
THE BREAKDOWN OF THE 30 F-35B
“The same Solomonic distribution of the 30 F-35Bs (15 at the Am and as many at the Mm) in the end does not satisfy anyone”, wrote Silvio Lora Lamia in Analysis of Defense . "There are few for the two ships equipped to embark aircraft carriers (in addition to the Cavour there is also the LHA Trieste) and they are insufficient for the Arma Azzurra, which in (its) future Joint group would also like to be able to use the F-35s of the admirals . It also seems impractical to alternate the command of this flying group with an aviator and a sailor as someone has proposed ”.
IN WHICH BASIS TO STAY THEM
In addition to contending for the assignment of specimens, officials also continue to debate whether all Italian F-35Bs, including the Air Force and Navy jets, should be grouped into a base to save on logistics, and if so, who should run it.
The choice is between the base of the Marina di Grottaglie in Puglia, where the AV-8s are based, or that of the 32 ° Stormo di Amendola, also in Puglia, to which the F-35As are already assigned.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/f-35-che-cosa-fara-nave-cavour-negli-stati-uniti/ on Tue, 26 Jan 2021 14:47:42 +0000.