| Carabinieri |
Well known around the world for their, successfull, fight against the Italian maffia is the Carabinieri.
Formed on 13 July 1814, the then called Corpo Carabinieri Reali was created by King Victor Emanuele I of
Sardinia, with the aim of providing Piemonte with its capital Torino, with a police corps similar to the
French Gendarmerie. Their mission was to control the crime and to serve the community through respect for
the Law. Later on, the renamed Arma dei Carabinieri serves as the Italian military police and are directed
to the Ministero della Difesa. During 1960 the availability of helicopters was such that the Arma dei
Carabinieri could contemplate the formation of autonomous aviation components. Accordingly a batch of AB47´s
were ordered, performing the two first Nucleo Elicotteri at Napoli and Palermo. During 1964 a third Nucleo
was formed at Cagliari and a main operating unit at Pratica di Mare. On 1 june 1965 the Sezione Aerea del
Comando Generale dell´Arma dei Carabinieri was formed. A name changed on 1 May 1969 to the present Servizio
Aereo dei Carabinieri. Today, the Servizio Aereo dei Carabinieri supports the landbased local Carabinieri-units
by providing transportation and undertaking patrolflights and many of their operations are conducted in the
civil sphere with anti-terrorist and - mafia duties. Special operations are flown in support of the
1°Battaglione Carabinieri Paracadutisti "Tuscania" and the anti-terrorist unit Gruppo di Intervento Speciale
(GIS). The Servizio Aereo dei Carabinieri operates with military registered helicopters and aircraft using the
callsign "Fiamma" plus the last two or three digits of the code.
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Click here for the Carabinieri overview
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| Guardia Costiera |
The Italian coastline is guarded by the Guardia Costiera. Besides many
boats and other vessels a fleet of 12 Piaggio P-166DL-3 aircraft and eight
AB412 helicopters is also in use by the Guardia Costiera. These are mainly
used for enforcement of maritime laws, search and rescue, polution control,
fishery control etc. There are plans to increase the fleet of AB412s up to
24 helicopters but budget restrictions at least slow down this process.
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| Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco |
The Servizio Aereo of the Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco maintains a widespread presence of Helicopter units throughout Italy and its islands. A typical unit operates with an AB206 for observation and liaisons tasks and two or more AB204s and/or AB412s for transportation and fire fighting duties. Every Nucleo Elicotteri has an AB206 or AB412 on alert for urgent rescue missions with a crew consiting of two pilots and two specialist air-rescuers from the Squadre Speleo-Alpinistico Fluviali. There missions are flown into poorly accesible areas with a speciality in fire fighting missions. They support the VVF surface forces with personel and material. The history of the Servizio Aereo has its origings back in 1947, when Domenico Andriello, then a young officer of the 54°Corpo VVF in Napoli, was struck by the evolutions of an S-51 helicopter of the US Navy. He recognised the helicopter as an efficient asset for the rescue and fire fighting roles assigned to the VVF.This resulted in the first three AB47G´s purchased in 1954. This first three helicopters were assigned to three provincial Nuclei at Roma, Napoli and Modena. In 1955 a further three AB47G´s were purchased, allowing new Nuclei to open at Milano-Linate and Genova. In 1968 the first of 19 AB206 helicopters were delivered, following in 1971 by the first AB205. The latest acquisition is the P180 entering service during 2004. All aircraft are painted in a red/white colorscheme and are coded in the VF-xx range. They use the Callsign “ Drago” .
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Click here for the Vigili del Fuoco overview
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| Dipartimento Protezione Civile |
In Italy the national organisation responsible for the management of natural disasters is the Dipartimento della Protezione Civile (DPC). The DPC was set up the Act number 225 of 24 February 1992, when the organised civil protection was set up as a “National Service” under the jurisdiction of the Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri. The DPC was set up with the responsibility for "protecting the integrity of life, assets, settlements, and the environment from damage resulting from natural disasters, catastrophes, and other calamities". Civil protection activities include forecasting and prevention of various risk situations, bringing aid to damaged populations and every other necessary and immediate activity meant to overcome these emergencies. The COAU is the operational element of the Ufficio Gestione delle Emergenze of the Dipartimento della Protezione Civile. The COAU coordinates the air activities of the Protezione Civile. The DPC does not have any aviation units comparable to other organizations like the Corpo Nazionale dei Vigli del Fuoco, Corpo Forestalle dello Stato or Aeronautica Militare Italiana. The management of the aircraft of the DPC is devolved to external companies, while others can be leased in according to actual requirements. The guidelines for the fleets operations are correlated to their role and the contracts in being. For transport functions, aircraft and crews must be at instant availability over a span of 24 hours in order to satisfy the requirement to deploy personnel of the DPC. The fleet of aircraft and helicopters is located at Roma-Ciampino, where they are maintained and operated by civil owned companies on behalf of the DPC. When needed they can be deployed to other airfields elsewhere in Italy.
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Click here for the Protezione Civile overview
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| Corpo Forestale Dello Stato |
The Corpo Forestale dello Stato (CFS) falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali.
Its duties include arresting poachers, safeguarding protected animal species and preventing forest fires. The CFS is responsible for
civil protection in Italy’s mountain areas and for investigating environmental violations. Its most well-known protection duty is fighting wildfires. On 26 January 1979, the present Servizo Aereo del Corpo Forestale was structured around the Centro Operativo Aeromobili based at Roma-Urbe, which parents several detached bases. In 1983, with the acquisition of the Canadair CL215, the Centro Operativo Elicotteri assumed the designation Centro Operativo Aeromobili. The backbones are a number of AB412HP en NH500 helicopters operating from a single base. During the "danger"-period of forest fires the helicopters are dispersed at bases in various areas of Italy. The special equipped AB412HP can drop 900 litres of water from an under slung bucket on a fire, while the NH500 can drop 500 litres. In May 2003 the CFS signed a contract to purchase four Erickson S-64s to have a helicopter capable of transporting a large quantity of water to an area affected by fire. On 6 July 2005 the expansion of the fleet suffered a setback when the second example on order was lost after an accident during a test flight at Roma-Fiumicino. Once complete, the fleet of S-64s will be spread throughout Italy, with two examples at Roma-Ciampino, one at Belluno and one at Lamezia-Terme. In2005 the CFS took onto charge its first communications aircraft when Piaggio P180 I-CFPA arrived on Roma-Ciampino. As mentioned before, all aviation part of the CFS is located at Roma-Urbe, just north of the Italian capital. A single unit operates all helicopters; however several detachments are maintained throughout Italy (especially during the forest fire season). These detachments are called Basi Periferiche and each year it is decided by the Centro Operativo Aereo Unificato (COAU) which ones are established. The COAU is the operational element of the Ufficio Gestione delle Emergenze of the Dipartimento della Protezione Civile. The COAU coordinates the air activities.
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Click here for the Corpo Forestale Dello Stato overview
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| La Guardia di Finanza |
The origins of the Guardia di Finanza date back to 1 October 1772, when the "Legione Truppe Leggere" was established under Victor Amedeus III, King of Sardinia. This was the first example in Italy of a special Corps specifically established and organised for financial surveillance duties along the borders, as well as for the military defence of the frontiers. By Law 149 of 8 April 1881, the Legione Truppe Leggere assumed the official name of "Corpo della Regia Guardia di Finanza", whose task was to "impede, suppress and report smuggling activities and any other violation or breach of financial laws and regulations", to safeguard the executive offices of the Tax Administration, as well as to co-participate in enforcing law and order and public security.
Nowadays, the Guardia di Finanza is a unit directly under the authority of the Ministero dell´Economia e delle Finanze. Its mission and institutional tasks are stated in the Law 189 of 23 April 1959 and are subdivided into priority ones (preventing, investigating and reporting financial evasions and violations, overseeing the compliance with the provisions of politico-economic interest and surveillance at sea for financial police purposes) and contribution ones (maintaining public order and safety and politico-military defense of the borders). As a consequence, the Guardia di Finanza is also entrusted with the economic and and financial surveillance of Italy´s maritime routes and the repression of all illegal traffic which goes by sea. La Guardia di Finanza also has an aviation element. The first operations were conducted by a C-45 of the Aeronautica Militare Italiana and continued with other types that became available. By 1955 it became apparent that an autonomous aviation element would better suit the Guardia´s operational requirements. Thus, on 20 June 1955, the Servizio Aereo della Guardia di Finanza was formed, and in 1957 the first unit, the Sezione Elicotteri di Napoli was established. The nimble AB47was the backbone of the Servizio until 1973, when the NH500 was selected as a replacement. During 1982 some twenty A109A´s were ordered as supplement. Fixed wing aircraft as the P166 and ATR42 were added for patrolling the coastline and above sea. The men and women in general are known “le fiamme gialle” (yellow burning torch as emblem) or “i Finanzieri”. The Comando Aeronavale use the callsign “Volpe” (fox) plus the last two or three digits of the code.
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| Polizia Di Stato |
The Polizia di Stato is one of the national police forces of Italy. It is responsible for providing general police duties in Italy, patrolling motorways, railways as well as certain waterways, and assisting the local Polizia Municipale and Polzia Locale. The Polizia di Stato is a civil police force, in contrast to the other main police forces of Italy, the Carabinieri, which is a military police force and the Guardia di Finanza, the Italian customs/borders/financial police that also falls in the military corps category.
The history of the Polizia di Stato dates back to 1922 when the Corpo degli agenti di Pubblica Sicurezza (Corps of Public Security officers) was established. In 1943, during Badoglio's government, the Corpo was militarised. During the first Italian democratic government of the post second world war the Corpo was renamed Corpo delle Guardie di Pubblica Sicurezza (Corps of Public Security Guard). Its tasks were the guaranty of public security and order, the safety of persons and the protection of property as well as policing. In April 1981 the Act number 121 established the organisation and the tasks of the present-day service and the Corpo delle Guardie Pubblica Sicurezza was demilitarised on 24 May 1981 and given the title Polizia di Stato. With this demilitarisation, the Matricole Militare was ceased. The new Polizia di Stato fits the previous codes as serials, a system which was also applied to the Polizias boats. Polizia helicopters do not carry individual unit markings. However each helicopter, or airplane, does carry the Servizio Aerea della Polizia dello Stato badge. This is a yellow viper, hovering over a gray highway with green sides. This all is shown inside a red/yellow outlined triangle.
Like so many Italian Government Agencies, the Corpo delle Guardie di Pubblica Sicurezza soon recognised the value of the helicopter, and in 1962 began to utilise AMI helicopters on missions.The increasing use lead to the establishment on 1 January 1971 of the Servizio Aereo. The 1°Gruppo Volo was based at Pratica di Mare, initialy without helicopters, but on 3 August 1971 the first three AB47´s were taken on charge. In May 1972 the first AB206´s were delivered, along with three Partenavia P64´s. On 20 July 1972 at Milano-Malpensa the 2°Gruppo Volo was formed and the Servizio Aereo expand. Various renamed Reparto Volo´s were established in to the present organisation. The latest acquisation of the Servizio Aereo is the Piaggio 180.
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Click here for the Polizia overview
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Photo: Richard de Wit
Photo: Frank Noort
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Order of Battle