"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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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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