China Is Freaked: Italy's Flagship Aircraft Carrier Is Training with India

What You Need to Know: The Italian Navy's flagship aircraft carrier, ITS Cavour, engaged in historic joint operations with India's INS Vikramaditya, marking the first-ever carrier exercises between the two nations. Conducted off the coast of Goa from October 1 to 6, the drills included complex air combat missions and coordinated weapons firings.

-The Italian Carrier Strike Group, featuring eight F-35B fighters and seven AV-8B+ Harrier jets, trained alongside the Indian Navy's MiG-29K fighters and the Indian Air Force's Su-30MKI and Rafale aircraft.

-This collaboration is part of ITS Cavour's inaugural Indo-Pacific deployment, enhancing interoperability and strengthening naval ties between Italy and India.

Italy's Flagship Aircraft Carrier Conducted Joint Operations With India

The first document relations between ancient India and ancient Rome began as early as the 1st century CE, but may have occurred even earlier. Diplomatic relations were established between modern India and Italy in 1947 – and the countries marked the 75th anniversary last year.

However, this past weekend, the navies of the two nations conducted the first-ever joint carrier operations with INS Vikramaditya and ITS Cavour . The latter aircraft carrier is now on its return leg of its historic first deployment to the Indo-Pacific. Since departing Taranto on June 1, the Italian Navy's flagship made port calls in Japan, and took part in training exercises with the U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy, including the multilateral Pitch Black-24 – the largest such aerial drills in the region.

The Italian carrier has been accompanied by the multi-mission frigate ITS Alpino and the multi-purpose patrol boat ITS Montecuccoli. The Italian Navy carrier strike group (CSG) consists of about 1,200 personnel, and 19 aerial assets – including eight F-35B fifth-generation multirole fighters, seven AV-8B+ Harrier jets, three NH-90 helicopters, and one EH-101 helicopter.

"In a historic maritime engagement, Indian Navy and Italian Navy carried out the maiden exercise by Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) of both the sides, off Goa coast from October 1 to 6," The Hindu reported.

The Indian Navy's Russian-made Mikoyan MiG-29K carrier-based fighters, along with Indian Air Force Sukhoi Su-30MKI combat aircraft and the Indian Air Force's French-made Dassault Rafales trained with the Italian Navy's Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning IIs. Exercises included combined large-force engagements, air combat missions, and coordinated weapons firings.

This is just the most recent joint carrier training that the crew of the Italian flagship has taken part in during this deployment. While in the Red Sea in June, ITS Cavour integrated with the U.S. Navy's Nimitz-class supercarrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) and the Arleigh Burke-class frigates USS Laboon (DDG-58) and USS Cole (DDG-67).

The carrier previously took part in the 2022 Clemenceau 22 exercises with the French Navy's flagship Charles De Gaulle and the U.S. Navy's Nimitz-class USS Harry S. Truman CSG. Later that same year, ITS Cavour took part in a NATO ring around Europe that included five different aircraft carrier strike groups – including the Charles De Gaulle, the Royal Navy's HMS Queen Elizabeth, and the United States Navy's USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) and USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78).

ITS Cavour and her escorts still have a few more weeks of operations at sea during its current deployment, and the carrier is now scheduled to make port calls at Karachi Pakistan, and Muscat, Oman. The flagship of the Italian Navy – named in honor of the 19th-century Italian statesman Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour – was launched in July 2004. It displaces 27,100 metric tons, and has a complement of 1,202 sailors.

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Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

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