Air force: Italian Air Force

Aeronautica Militare

Coat of Arms of the Italian Air Force

Founded

28 March 1923

Country

Italy

Size

43,000 personnel
551 aircraft

Part of

Italian Armed Forces

Motto

Latin: Virtute Siderum Tenus
"With Valour to the Stars"

Commanders

Current
commander

Lieutenant General Giuseppe Bernardis

Insignia

Identification
symbol

The Italian Air Force operates a total active fleet of 551 aircraft. This makes the Italian Air Force the 5th largest in NATO only behind the USA, United Kingdom, Turkey, France. The AMI operates 227 combat aircraft.

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Versions	In service	Notes
Combat aircraft
AMX International AMX	Italy/ Brazil	Attack	AMX	66
Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon	United States	Multirole Fighter		14	Aircraft leased from US Air Force
Panavia Tornado	European Union	Multirole/AD/Strike/AR		72
Eurofighter Typhoon	European Union	Multirole Fighter		75	21 Aircraft on order
		Total combat aircraft		227
Trainers
Aermacchi MB-339	Italy	Trainer (Combat capable)		78
Aermacchi SF-260	Italy	trainer	SF 260EA	30
		Total trainer aircraft		108
Transports
Boeing 767	United States	aerial refueling/strategic transport	KC-767A	4
Alenia G.222	Italy	tactical transport	G222	3	Phased out
Alenia C-27J Spartan	Italy	tactical transport	C-27J	12
Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules	United States	Aerial refueling/tactical transport	C-130J/KC-130J/C-130J-30	21	8 C-130J converted to KC-130, 1 lost to crash
Piaggio P166	Italy	utility transport	P.166 APH	5	phased out
Piaggio P180 Avanti	Italy	utility transport	P.180 M/P.180 RM/P.180 APH	15
Dassault Falcon 50	France	VIP transport		2
Dassault Falcon 900	France	VIP transport	900EX/900EX Easy	5
Airbus A319	European Union	VIP transport	A319-100 ACJ	3
		Total transport aircraft		70
Transport/Search and Rescue Helicopter
MD Helicopters MD 500 Defender	Italy	utility helicopter	NH 500E	49
Agusta-Bell AB212 Twin Huey	Italy	rescue helicopter	AB212AM	32
Sikorsky HH-3F Pelican	Italy	Combat SAR		24
		Total transport and rescue helicopters		105
Maritime Patrol/Reconnaissance
General Atomics RQ-1 Predator	United States	reconnaissance UAV	RQ-1A	7
General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper	United States	reconnaissance UAV	MQ-9	6
Breguet Atlantique	France	maritime patrol	Br 1150	8
SIAI Marchetti S 208	Italy	liaison	S 208M	20
		Total maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft		41
Total Active Aircraft
		Total active aircraft		551

Future aircraft

Boeing KC-767 (4)
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II (109 + 22 for the Marina Militare)
Aermacchi M-346 (6 ordered-$329m-Nov 2009,and 9 more expected)
Joint Airborne Multisensor Multimission System on the Gulfstream G550 platform (2)
Another 21 Eurofighter Typhoon