A-Infos (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #13-26 - US Air Bases in Italy: It's War! There's Something New in the Air Today (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

"Respecting the agreements on US bases in Italy does not mean engaging 
in a war, but rather responsibly fulfilling legal obligations. Italy is 
not at war, but is part of NATO and acts in full compliance with the 
Constitution and international treaties. The use of military bases is 
part of a line of continuity followed by all governments, which over the 
years have always applied these agreements without question." This was 
stated on April 7 by Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, during the debate 
in the Chamber of Deputies on the use of Italian territory for war 
operations against Iran. Crosetto asked parliamentarians and Italians 
for a leap of faith: trust me, everything is fine and in full compliance 
with the agreements between Italy and the United States. Yes, because 
those agreements have been top secret for almost eighty years and, as 
Crosetto points out, no government in the history of the Republic has 
thought to declassify them and perhaps even renegotiate them. Therefore, 
in continuity and contiguity with the past, Italy will continue to serve 
as a platform for the overseas ally's death campaigns, today in Iran and 
the Persian Gulf, and tomorrow, who knows, in the Horn of Africa, the 
Sahel, and the Indo-Pacific.

The Minister of War, however, deserves credit for having released a 
series of partial data on the use of two of the military installations 
made available to the US armed forces: the Aviano (Pordenone) and 
Sigonella (eastern Sicily) airfields. Aviano is one of the main US Air 
Force bases in Europe, complete with storage facilities for B-61-12 
tactical nuclear bombs. It is home to the 31st Fighter Wing, with two 
squadrons of F-16 "Fighting Falcon" fighter-bombers with dual 
capabilities, conventional and nuclear, and the 56th Rescue Squadron, 
equipped with Sikorsky HH-60W combat search and rescue helicopters. 
According to Crosetto, between 2018 and 2022, 2,795 large transport 
aircraft and 315 US fighter jets and helicopters transited Aviano. 
Nearly 10% of the cargo planes (251) were classified as "hot": they 
carried weapons, ammunition, explosives, and potentially even nuclear 
warheads. These are impressive numbers, given that the period was marked 
by a sharp reduction in US and NATO operations and exercises due to the 
Covid pandemic, and that the first major international conflict, the 
Russian-Ukrainian conflict, only erupted in 2022.

Inexplicably, Crosetto did not provide information on what happened in 
Aviano over the past three years. However, given the escalation of war 
in Eastern Europe, Israel's genocidal campaign against Palestinians in 
Gaza, Tel Aviv's military attacks on Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, and the 
two wars unleashed against Iran in the last year, we can imagine that 
the Friulian airport has played a key role in the forward deployment of 
the US armed forces. "Italy is not at war, and no one is using our bases 
to wage war!" the government tirelessly repeats. But lies have long 
noses and short legs. The constant coming and going of US Air Force 
transport aircraft through Aviano has been plain for all to see in 
recent weeks. Il Fatto Quotidiano documented no fewer than five transits 
from February 21st to March 3rd of the Pentagon's Lockheed C-5M "Super 
Galaxy," capable of carrying up to 127,000 kg of weapons systems and 
munitions, including tanks and attack helicopters. From March 27 to 
April 13, Il Fatto Quotidiano again tracked 23 flights of Lockheed 
Martin C-130J "Hercules" cargo planes from Aviano to the English base at 
Fairford, used by US B-1 and B-52 strategic bombers for strikes against 
Iranian territory.

"Aviano Air Base in Italy is one of the main US Air Force installations 
that hosts tanker aircraft for refueling long-range fighters used to 
bomb Iran," the authoritative Wall Street Journal reported in a lengthy 
article published on March 23, on how Europe is "silently" playing a key 
role in the Iran war. A US Air Force Boeing KC-135 tanker flew over 
Friulian airspace on March 11 to refuel a dozen F-16 fighters from the 
31st Fighter Wing that were taking off for an unknown destination, 
possibly in the Middle East. However, the transfer of twelve Fighting 
Falcon fighter-bombers from Aviano to two bases in Saudi Arabia and 
Jordan on February 16 is certain. During their passage over the 
Mediterranean, the aircraft were refueled in flight by two Boeing 
KC-135s that took off from Ramstein and Spangdahlem, Germany, and then 
landed in Souda Bay, Crete. Since February 28, the twelve F-16s of the 
31st Fighter Wing have been deployed to strike Iran.

Then there's Sigonella, the most important US Navy installation in 
Europe and the Mediterranean. According to Minister Crosetto, 9,501 
cargo planes (917 classified as "hot"), 33 fighter jets, and 205 war 
helicopters passed through the Sicilian airport between 2019 and 2023. 
The number of missions involving intelligence, reconnaissance, and 
surveillance drones deployed at Sigonella by the US armed forces is 
impressive: 3,751, nearly a thousand per year. Over the last three years 
(2023-25), drone operations have reportedly dropped to a total of 1,050. 
Is Sigonella therefore unrelated to the Gulf conflict? Not at all, on 
the contrary. The Sicilian airport is also used by US Air Force Boeing 
KC-135 "Stratotankers" to refuel strategic bombers flying from the US 
and northern Europe to the Middle East. The last two landed on March 19 
and 26, respectively.

On March 21, according to reports by Five Star Movement parliamentarians 
(but denied by the government), several F-15 "Strike Eagle" fighter jets 
landed at the Sicilian base "in tactical configuration, i.e., combat 
configuration with mounted weapons and bombs." The planes, which took 
off from Sigonella a few hours later, are said to have headed toward the 
war theater. Then there are the unmanned aerial vehicles and maritime 
patrol boats that, daily, head from Sicily to the Persian Gulf to 
identify potential targets in Iran. The March 14 attack on 
infrastructure on Kharg Island, from which 80% of Iran's oil is 
exported, was preceded by a spy mission by a US Navy MQ-4C "Triton" 
drone. As noted by military analysts, without prior monitoring of the 
area and target "recognition," it would not have been possible to 
successfully carry out the bombings on the island.

During its March 8 mission, the "Triton" also flew over Iran's 
northeastern coast, specifically the Bushehr district, home to a uranium 
enrichment facility. This facility was also subjected to heavy bombing 
on the night of March 14. The same drone then took off from Sigonella on 
April 9 (a few hours after the ceasefire was signed) to head toward the 
Strait of Hormuz, where it suddenly disappeared from radar. Was it shot 
down by Iranian anti-aircraft fire or crashed due to a technical 
failure? To date, the Pentagon has provided no explanation, but it 
promptly replaced it by transferring a twin MQ-4C "Triton" drone to 
Sigonella from Florida on April 16.

The Sicilian base has played a key role in the conflict since the eve of 
the attack on the night of February 28. A few hours before the raids, a 
Boeing P8A "Poseidon" naval patrol aircraft took off from Sigonella, 
heading toward Middle Eastern airspace. The "Poseidon" is also used for 
intelligence gathering and the identification of potential enemy targets.

In Sicily, there is another military installation owned and operated 
exclusively by the US Armed Forces that has assumed a key role in war 
operations, especially for transmitting attack orders, video images, and 
top-secret information to combat units. This is the MUOS (Mobile User 
Objective System), the US Navy's new satellite telecommunications 
system[editor's note: a strong territorial movement against MUOS has 
been active for years, and has been frequently addressed by the UN]. One 
of the four land terminals is located in Niscemi (Caltanissetta), within 
the NRTF radio transmission station, which operates from Sigonella; The 
MUOS enables the connection of the military network (command centers, 
drones, fighter-bombers, naval units, submarines, operational units, 
etc.). Equally important from a geostrategic perspective are the 
communications transmitted by the NRTF's countless antennas. Operational 
since 1991, it ensures radio communication between surface, submarine, 
air, and land forces and the US Navy's C4I centers. As the only facility 
in the Mediterranean with specific characteristics, equipment, and 
technologies, the Niscemi station is crucial for communications with 
nuclear submarines operating in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, 
the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean.

Antonio Mazzeo

https://umanitanova.org/basi-aeree-usa-in-italia-e-guerra-ce-qualcosa-di-nuovo-oggi-nellaria/
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