The Diplomat
The aircraft carrier Cavour, flagship of the Italian Navy, sailed yesterday from the Spanish base of Rota, where it docked last Tuesday in its way to the United States. There it will obtain the certification to operate with the F-35B short take-off and vertical landing aircraft, which will progressively replace the AV-8B Plus, according to an Italian Embassy press release.
“This is an activity of a technical-operational nature with important strategic-military implications for the country on the international scene”, said the Italian ambassador in Madrid, Riccardo Guariglia, who, unable to visit the ship due to the anti-covid protocol, contacted the aircraft carrier’s commander, Navy Captain Giancarlo Ciappina, by telephone from Madrid to welcome him to Spain.
The ambassador stressed the importance, also political, of the choice of the Spanish port of Rota to make the last stop before the carrier crosses the Atlantic in its way to US base in Norfolk and formulated his wishes, which he asked to extend to the entire crew, for the full success of the mission in which the ship will participate for several weeks. “As Minister Guerini underlined on the occasion of the departure of the aircraft carrier from the port of Taranto, with the F-35Bs Italy will become one of the few countries in the world that will be able to have the capability of an aircraft carrier with fifth generation combat aircraft,” added the ambassador.
