A pair of Lockheed Martin F-35A fighter planes of the Italian Air Force (AMi) recently faced an unwanted threat represented by two Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighters near the eastern European border. This is an Air Policing operation, that is management by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) of the airspaces of member countries.

The Atlantic Alliance announced that the mission took place on September 21st and "was conducted in a professional manner. At no time did the Russian aircraft enter NATO airspace". Air Policing operations are quite numerous in this quadrant of the European continent, especially in a delicate moment like this, due to the Russian-Ukrainian war.

According to an initial reconstruction of the facts, after NATO radars detected the presence of Russian aircraft near allied airspace, the Italian fighters, which are part of the A-32nd Wing task force located at the Polish air base of Malbork, they received the take-off order. Our F-35s thus intercepted the two Sukhoi at 12,000 meters above sea level, forcing them to return towards the Russian borders.