19 June 2018 has been marked as the 100th death anniversary of Francesco Baracca, the undisputed ace of Italian aviation in the First World War. In 1972, to honour this legend, the Italian Army has named a small airfield after Francesco Baracca which is located just west of the town Casarsa della Delizia.
Aviation Regiment
Cpt Marinoni, squadron leader of the 49th Attack Helicopter squadron, explained, “The 5th regiment was created in 1976, when the 5th Light Airplane Unit and the 5th General Purpose Helicopter Group were merged. The unit was initially called the 5th Aviation Group “Rigel” and with some changes over the years, it was restructured in 2003 to the current organisation and was named 5th Army Aviation Regiment “Rigel”.” The unit consists of three different squadrons. The 49th Attack Helicopter Group “Capricorno”, which flies the AH-129C and D model and the 27th Multi-Purpose Helicopter Group “Mercurio”, which flies the UH-205A and UH-90A. The third squadron is the Support Squadron which consists of the helicopter maintenance and the general support group.
Operations
Over the years, the 5th Army Aviation Regiment “Rigel” has been involved in many national and international operations and the unit has been awarded with silver and bronze medals for participation in rescue operations during earthquakes that hit Italy in the Friuli area in 1976. An additional silver medal was awarded for its uninterrupted support in mountain rescue service during a period from 1976 to 1984. A fourth medal, another silver one, was awarded for the operations in 1991-1993 during the conflict in Yugoslavia, where the unit was intensively involved as Cpt. Marinoni stated, “During this operation, one of our UH-205’s was shot down near the village of Podrute, Croatia, by a Serbian MiG. Unfortunately, all crew on board lost their lives”.
At the beginning of 2012, the Italian Army announced that five UH-90A helicopters would be sent to Afghanistan and put at the disposal of ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) command to replace the UH-205A which had been in theatre for some time. Italy became the first country to send this European helicopter to a combat zone. With the current operations of Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in Afghanistan, the Italian Army is slowly lowering the amount of support needed in the area. Cpt Marinoni stated, “The current deployment is not supporting Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) or resupply missions anymore, because of the progressive stabilisation of Afghanistan and the changeover from ISAF to RSM in 2015. So, without Italian Forces being in forward operating bases, we haven’t had any more reason for these kinds of missions”. Nevertheless, the AH-129C/D and UH-90A are still involved in fire support, forward MEDEVAC, personnel recovery and airlift missions.
During the deployment in Iraq, for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), the United States had asked the Italian Army to provide personnel recovery capability together with the US Forces. Cpt Marinoni stated, “We were the only foreign asset in the theatre imbedded into a completely US organisation as all other personnel recovery assets were of US”. These missions were flown in a standard configuration of two Mangusta’s and two UH-90’s, carrying an extraction force to rescue downed pilots. “Since 2017, we have not been operating the Mangusta anymore in Iraq in support of OIR because after the defeat of ISIS, there was no need for the attack helicopter in the area. For this reason, we are not involved in personnel recovery missions anymore, but only the airlift missions with the UH-90A,” added Cpt Marinoni.
The authors would like to thank Cpt Marinoni, Maj. Colucci and all ground and flight crew from the 5th Army Aviation Regiment for their support in writing this article.
Text and photos; Erik Bruijns and Mark de Greeuw
A cockpit view of the UH-90A clearly showing the multi-functional colour screens
An AH-129D provides overhead cover for an UH-90A
Flying in close formation is key during operations
One of the UH-205's was painted in a special colour scheme which was applied for the anniversary of Francesco Baracca
The AH-129D was introduced in 2014 and includes a new targeting system incorporated in the nose turret
The gunner can use the helmet mounted sight to use the M197 three-barrel Gatling-type cannon
The UH-90 and AH-129 have been working together in the battlefield for several years
The UH-90A is a state of the art helicopter giving a welcome boost to the Italian Army