Carrier Cavour’s Pacific Deployment Extends Italy’s Reach in the Pacific, Say Admiral

ABOARD AIRCRAFT CARRIER ITS Cavour (550), Changi Naval Base, Singapore – The Itatlian Navy’s extended deployment to the Pacific resulted in its sea-based F-35B Lightning II fighter achieving initial operational capability and exercising with partners in the Indo-Pacific deployment, said CSG commander Rear Adm. Giancarlo Ciappina.

“This campaign has been very fruitful for us to declare our initial operational capabilities of our F-35Bs, because all the training that we have been performing has composed the necessary frame for us to be able to operate the aircraft,” said Ciappina at a media conference on the carrier while it was docked at Changi Naval Base on a port visit to Singapore. The IOC was declared in Yokosuka, Japan on Aug. 26 when Cavour was docked there. Along with Cavour, Italian Navy frigate ITS Alpino (F594) and French Navy frigate FNS Bretagne (D655) rounded out the CSG. Alpino was continuously with the carrier after it left Italy on June 1. Italian Navy Multipurpose Combat Ship ITS Raimondo Montecuccoli (P432) joined the CSG in Japan, but has since split off for independent operations

The F-35Bs reached IOC for sea-based expeditionary operations, Ciappina said. The Italian Navy led the operation with support from the Italian Air Force. The Italian Air Force will lead the F-35B’s land-based operations IOC with support from the Italian Navy. The Italian Air Force primarily operates the F-35A model but uses the B model for dispersed operations from expeditionary airfields and sea-based operations from Cavour. The carrier’s airwing included two Italian Air Force F-35Bs, six Italian Navy F-35B, seven AV-8B Harrier IIs and two NH-90 helicopters.

Ciappina said the CSG participated in the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) Pitch Black multinational exercise, held from July 12 –Aug. 2 in Australia, and carried out live firing of the F-35B’s AMRAAM missiles in the waters near Guam, both of which were geared toward achieving the IOC.

“There are some things which are very difficult to duplicate in the European airspace,” Ciappina said. “In Australia and Guam, we had a huge airspace for training in, along with large firing ranges to operate in to carry out live firing.”

The F-35B can achieve Full Operational Capability (FOC) for sea expeditionary based operations without an operational campaign like the Indo-Pacific deployment or the Royal Navy’s deployment of carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09) from Sept-Dec 2023.. Ciappina said that FOC would be based on several benchmarks which would not require an operational campaign to achieve, such as numbers of F-35Bs in operational service, reaching a targeted sortie generation rate, training sufficient pilots for the aircraft, reaching full capabilities in weapons delivery, managing the logistic information systems and proving the ability to conduct shipboard complex maintenance such as changing an engine.

Ciappina added that Cavour would not have to deploy again to the U.S. as it did in 2021, when he was commanding officer of the carrier, to achieve the FOC. However, he added that amphibious landing helicopter dock ITS Trieste (L9890), which is expected to be delivered in November this year, will have to deploy to the US to become operationally certified for F-35B operations as the Italian Navy will use Trieste to operate F-35Bs when required.

“Our aims over here is to develop new partnerships, to be interoperable with our partners and allies and going towards interchangeability,” said Ciappina.

Interoperability drills are done on a regular basis, said Ciappina, but the next stage is interchangeability, where ships and personnel are integrated with another country’s naval task group or ship itself. The CSG commander said that during Cavour’s deployment, it incorporated the Spanish Navy frigate ESPS Numancia (F83) and French Navy frigate FS Aconit (F713) while it was in the Mediterranean, French Navy frigate FS Forbin while it was in the Red Sea and US Navy destroyer USS Russell (DDG-59) in the South China Sea.

“The most important part of the Cavour Carrier Strike Group is that it is a multinational effort and those ships have been integrated completely into the CSG under my command,” Ciappina said. He also stated that the operational staff of the Cavour CSG included officers from several partner nations.

During the voyage from Singapore to Goa, India, Alpino and Bretagne will exchange their embarked NH-90 helicopters, crew and support personnel with each other.

“This is a very tight integration that we are aiming at,” said Ciappina, adding that in the future the Italian Navy will be able to exchange its airwing with countries that have similar capabilities.

Following its participation in Pitch Black in Australia, the Cavour CSG sailed to Guam and conducted drills with the Abraham Lincoln CSG before it docked.The Cavour CSG carried out live firings of the F-35B’s AMRAAM and conducted a four-day drill with US Navy destroyer USS Dewey (DDG-105) as it made its way to Japan.

Ciappina said that with Japan planning to operate F-35Bs from its Izumo class destroyer helicopter carriers, it wanted to have a benchmark on a comparable size ship operating F-35Bs and see how F-35B carrier operations are conducted. Cavour hosted officials while it was docked in Japan, including Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) and Japan Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) personnel.The ship carried out the Noble Raven 24-3 exercise from Aug. 27 -29 with JMSDF destroyer helicopter carrier JS Izumo (DDH-183), destroyer JS Onami (DD-111), a JMSDF submarine and P-1 Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA), French Navy frigate Bretagne, German Navy frigate FGS Baden-Württemberg (F222), fleet oiler FGS Berlin (A1411) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) destroyer HMAS Sydney (DDG42). The embarked Japanese personnel also stayed on the ship until it reached Manila, allowing them to further observe flight operations on board the carrier.

The Italian Navy decided that an accompanying fleet oiler was not necessary given that the CSG could rely on French, German and American fleet oilers in the waters it was passing through. The planned schedule of movement between ports meant that the CSG would not often need to be replenished between its port stops, said Ciappina. Throughout its voyage, Cavour has been constantly accompanied by frigate Alpino, an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) version of the FREMM class multipurpose frigate, which is also the base for the US Navy’s planned Constellation class frigate. Alpino also combines its ASW capabilities with an extended air defense capability, allowing it to protect the carrier from submarines, aircraft and anti-ship missile. Cmdr. Davide Cervellera, Alpino’s commanding officer, said that beyond exercise Noble Raven with a JMSDF submarine, the frigate has not conducted any other drills with partner nation submarines. During Noble Raven, Alpino successfully detected and engaged the JMSDF submarine before it could carry out an attack. Cervellera also stated that the crew has conducted longer deployments in the Mediterranean in the past.

The Italian Navy has taken a unique approach in the transitioning from the AV-8B Harrier IIs to the F-35Bs, particularly with the AV-8Bs expected to continue in service until the Italian Navy’s target date at least 2028 for the sea expeditionary based operations FOC of the F-35B. Capt. Dario Castelli, Carrier Air Wing Commander for Cavour, said that unlike the US Marine Corps and the Royal Navy, which stood down AV-8B squadrons before reactivating them later as F-35 squadrons, the Italian Navy only has one naval fighter squadron which concurrently operates both aircraft.”

We cannot close down AV-8B operations and restart later with F-35s, so we operate with both aircraft together and transition consecutively with both types in one squadron,” Castelli said. “It is tough, as we have to keep the same operational level with the AV-8B and the overall worldwide situation doesn’t allow you to step down and on the other side, you have to draw up the F-35 program.”

It’s a challenge ensuring there are enough pilots for both aircraft types, Castelli said. The Italian Navy decided to have senior pilots dual qualified to fly operations on both types of aircraft.All pilots only flying the AV-8Bs have been given access to the F-35B’s Special Access Program allowing them to familiarize themselves with F-35B operations and capabilities until they to transition to flying F-35Bs. The F-35B’s SAP is part of the overall F-35 security protocols which protects disclosure of the aircraft’s capabilities. Airfields and ships where F-35s conduct operations are required to have an SAP facility present, which is a secured area where F-35s mission and operations planning along with discussion and briefings must be held.

Exercise Pitch Black in Australia allowed the F-35B to drop air-to-ground munitions, in this case GBU-12 Paveway II bombs, said Castelli, which was a major milestone required for the IOC. The carrier air wing also gained insights in integrated operations between fifth generation fighters, namely the F-35Bs, with the various fourth generation fighters fielded by the nations taking part in Pitch Black.

“What we discovered – we had an idea of this but never touched on it by ourselves – the F-35 becomes a battle manager and uses the fourth-generation fighters as the shooters,” said Castelli, who added that in the future, the F-35B would operate with armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and direct them in engagements. Castelli also said that during the Pitch Black drills, the F-35Bs were able to insert themselves into the command and control chain, allowing them to provide sensor data along and coordinate the other fighters.

Currently the Cavour’s air wing operates without a carrier-based Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, such as the E-2D Hawkeye. But the Italian Navy working to acquire a carrier-based UAV to provide early warning. A single F-35B could fill the control and coordination role for the other aircraft in a mission.

While the Cavour airwing’s transport capabilities are limited to EH-101 and NH-90 helicopters, Castelli said that the carrier airwing is satisfied with the capabilities provided by both. The Cavour is qualified to operate US V-22B Ospreys , andt while the Cavour’s helicopters would not be able to transport F-35B engines to the ship, it keeps one spare engine on board.

Asked if the Cavour CSG would deploy again to the Indo-Pacific in the future, Ciappina replied, “Probably so. It is not planned at the moment, but this region is a vital maritime space and the maritime spaces are interconnected, as you can see with the current situation in the Red Sea. So it is vital that we are present in all areas of the maritime domain such as the Indo-Pacific.”