Operational History
The first operational squadron of the Italian air force, the 103° Gruppo of 51° Stormo formed in November 1989, with the first Italian unit also forming in 1989. Both the Italian and Brazilan AMX fleets were grounded in February 1992, following the crash of an Italian AMX due to engine failure. Operations were allowed to restart in May that year, following modification of the engines.
Italy assigned six AMXs from 103° Gruppo to operations over Bosnia in 1995 as part of Operation Deny Flight, which was followed by a similar deployment in support of the IFOR peacekeepers in Bosnia. This deployment was interrupted by another grounding, again due to engine failure, between January and March 1996. Italian AMX aircraft were used in 1999 in the Kosovo war. Instead of using unguided or more traditional laser-guided bombs, the Italian Air Force used dozens of Mk 82 bombs fitted with Israeli guidance kits ("Opher"), effectively converting the "dumb" bombs into an infrared-guided bomb. Italian AMX squadrons flew 252 combat sorties over Kosovo as part of Operation Allied Force, without a single loss.
In 2005, the Italian Air Force launched an upgrade programme (ACOL Aggionamento Capacità Operative e Logistiche - Operational and Logistical Capability Upgrade) for 55 of its AMXs, adding a new laser INS, new cockpit displays and allowing the aircraft to drop Joint Direct Attack Munition guided bombs.
Since Autumn 2009, four Italian AMX are located in Afghanistan, replacing the same number of Italian Tornado IDS in the recce role.
On November 2010 members of Task Group “Black Cats” during a reconnaissance flight stopped an attack against ISAF French troops.
In 2011, Italian AMX aircraft were employed during the 2011 military intervention in Libya. Italian military aircraft deployed 710 guided bombs and missiles during sorties: Italian Air Force Tornados and AMX fighter bombers deployed 550 bombs and missiles, while Navy AV-8Bs deployed 160 guided bombs. AMX aircraft for the first time used Litening III targeting pods paired with Paveway and JDAM guided bombs.
As of March 2012, the Philippines is in negotiations with Italy for the possible procurement of used AMX aircraft, although no official information has been released. Jane's also reported that the AMX is being considered for the PAF's Lead-in Fighter Trainer (LIFT) / Surface Attack Aircraft (SAA) project.
Read more about this topic: AMX International AMX
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)