ROME - In peace and war between the Italian and Libyan coasts at a speed of "mach 2, twice that of sound, there are 20-minute flight. Between sky of Gioia del Colle and a "scramble" with a mig in the Sicilian Channel, less than half. Lt. Col. Salvatore T. is an Italian driver in the war. E 'was born in Pozzuoli.
He is 39 years old, a wife, two little girls and his fighter "Typhoon". Commanded the 12th squadron of the 36th wing. The "Strali. "My daughters who works as I do think the boy wizard who sits on the air. War is a word you do not know which is right at this moment do not know." Epper the war began.
And the concerns. "With my companions, in these hours, we talk about it often. Indeed, to be honest, is a month that we'll talk. Since the Libyan crisis began. We have been trained for this. I can say that if and when I have to push button to launch my sidewinder missiles, I will push that button.
It will be the first time I'll pull drones not against training, but against another human being. But my head, the head of our fighter pilots, is educated to deal with it. You see, I want to be clear. This is not about rhetoric. We are not machines, but men aware of what they do for their country.
Bearing in mind one thing. Up there in the air, make decisions and receive orders within a few seconds, while traveling between 700 and 800 kilometers per hour. "Firing at a target you can not see." In modern air warfare, the enemy is a bright pixel on a screen. A cross of numerical coordinates, set by the lock of a missile armed.
The radar of our fighters they see anything that moves well beyond 50 km from the tip of our bow. And when you're in the cockpit only have time to focus on those tasks that you never stop repeating training to be ready when the moment should arrive. I repeat: there is too much time to think about anything else.
"Maybe before taking off, time to think about what you are going to go there." No. There. When the warning siren sounds, we have time to put your pants "anti-G" on the jacket and flight suit, grab a helmet and then travel the 20 feet separating our building from the shelter where we go on the hunt.
Then turn on the engine, you press the oxygen mask on his face and head when you arrive in runway for takeoff, only then, the first tower, and the center of command and control, then you allow for a route, share and a target. E 'in the air when you know what you are called to do. " And there, up in the air, as you say, in the head really no place else? "After so many years on a hunter, a pilot will not recur even the noise of the airplane.
I am surprised not to hear even more breath in my oxygen mask, even though I get amplified through the headphones of the helmet. There exists only in that tells me my plane and I hear on the radio frequencies from my command and my teammates. " Having a name or an abbreviation? "A symbol.
We are the" arrows. "Our logo is an arrow. I, the master, are" Strale 1. "The other guys are the number you chose when they arrived to the unit. What then is the ' only luck we have. The number we have chosen. What we think will bring us luck. Told by a Neapolitan, it may seem strange, but no horns or rabbit's foot in his pockets.
" Let's go back to that button might be called a push. Where to begin and end his freedom to decide? "There are rules of engagement because of the changing context of the flight mission. I can not go into detail, but let's say before you push that button must be authorized by my chain of command and control, which in turn must be authorized by politics.
" And the seconds and minutes to decide, then? "I have a few seconds when I hired when I lit on fire or targeted by an enemy aircraft. In this case, functions as the legitimate defense of the police and carabinieri. I decide, precisely because there is not time. "In these days, as the wait goes on the track?" We have 24-hour shifts.
We have a beautiful building. Some nice clothes to rest beds, a television news programs and where to watch the games. Computers. And even a PlayStation. "Play with the war? Salvatore laughs:" I do not like the playstation. And war is not a game. " 
He is 39 years old, a wife, two little girls and his fighter "Typhoon". Commanded the 12th squadron of the 36th wing. The "Strali. "My daughters who works as I do think the boy wizard who sits on the air. War is a word you do not know which is right at this moment do not know." Epper the war began.
And the concerns. "With my companions, in these hours, we talk about it often. Indeed, to be honest, is a month that we'll talk. Since the Libyan crisis began. We have been trained for this. I can say that if and when I have to push button to launch my sidewinder missiles, I will push that button.
It will be the first time I'll pull drones not against training, but against another human being. But my head, the head of our fighter pilots, is educated to deal with it. You see, I want to be clear. This is not about rhetoric. We are not machines, but men aware of what they do for their country.
Bearing in mind one thing. Up there in the air, make decisions and receive orders within a few seconds, while traveling between 700 and 800 kilometers per hour. "Firing at a target you can not see." In modern air warfare, the enemy is a bright pixel on a screen. A cross of numerical coordinates, set by the lock of a missile armed.
The radar of our fighters they see anything that moves well beyond 50 km from the tip of our bow. And when you're in the cockpit only have time to focus on those tasks that you never stop repeating training to be ready when the moment should arrive. I repeat: there is too much time to think about anything else.
"Maybe before taking off, time to think about what you are going to go there." No. There. When the warning siren sounds, we have time to put your pants "anti-G" on the jacket and flight suit, grab a helmet and then travel the 20 feet separating our building from the shelter where we go on the hunt.
Then turn on the engine, you press the oxygen mask on his face and head when you arrive in runway for takeoff, only then, the first tower, and the center of command and control, then you allow for a route, share and a target. E 'in the air when you know what you are called to do. " And there, up in the air, as you say, in the head really no place else? "After so many years on a hunter, a pilot will not recur even the noise of the airplane.
I am surprised not to hear even more breath in my oxygen mask, even though I get amplified through the headphones of the helmet. There exists only in that tells me my plane and I hear on the radio frequencies from my command and my teammates. " Having a name or an abbreviation? "A symbol.
We are the" arrows. "Our logo is an arrow. I, the master, are" Strale 1. "The other guys are the number you chose when they arrived to the unit. What then is the ' only luck we have. The number we have chosen. What we think will bring us luck. Told by a Neapolitan, it may seem strange, but no horns or rabbit's foot in his pockets.
" Let's go back to that button might be called a push. Where to begin and end his freedom to decide? "There are rules of engagement because of the changing context of the flight mission. I can not go into detail, but let's say before you push that button must be authorized by my chain of command and control, which in turn must be authorized by politics.
" And the seconds and minutes to decide, then? "I have a few seconds when I hired when I lit on fire or targeted by an enemy aircraft. In this case, functions as the legitimate defense of the police and carabinieri. I decide, precisely because there is not time. "In these days, as the wait goes on the track?" We have 24-hour shifts.
We have a beautiful building. Some nice clothes to rest beds, a television news programs and where to watch the games. Computers. And even a PlayStation. "Play with the war? Salvatore laughs:" I do not like the playstation. And war is not a game. "
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