The Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) has completed its tour of the Middle East with the following displays.
- The T-346A Master and Eurofighter F-2000A of the 311° Gruppo (Squadron) of the Reparto Sperimentale Volo (RSV – Test Wing)
- the grand finale with the 10x MB.339A/PAN of the Frecce Tricolori
This tour was sponsored by the Leonardo Company which helped to bring these Italian jets to Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait. The reason for this tour was to promote the aerospace capabilities of the Italian Aerospace across the region of Persian Gulf.
This is the first time when a T-346 took part in such a long trip. The pilots of this aircraft which belong to the RSV and the 212° Gruppo of the 61° Stormo (Wing) from Lecce; flew from Pratica di Mare to Al Udeid, Qatar.
The T-346 Master flew along with two of the F-2000A jets. This entire long trip was made possible thanks to a KC-767 Tanker from the 4° Stormo.
In total five aerial refueling and a total of 6 hours were required to move these aircraft nonstop from Italy to Qatar.
In the first part of the tour, the Italian aircraft took part in the air show over Doha on 10th and 11th November.
During their stay in Qatar, these aircraft also carried out the demo and orientation flights for the Qatar Emiri Air Force and Qatar Air Academy aircrews.
The Frecce Tricolori display team from November 14th to 16th attended the “Bahrain International Air Show”. It was the first time since 1961 when it was formed that an Italian display tam flew to Bahrain.
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