Italian Air Force Orders GE Engines

Newsday ^ | April 24, 2002 | The Associated Press

[Willie Green]

EVENDALE, Ohio -- The Italian air force chose General Electric-built engines to power four Boeing 767 tanker transport aircraft.

The order for the CF6-80C2 engines is worth $80 million, GE Aircraft Engines officials said Wednesday.

The first plane will be delivered to the Italian air force in 2005.

The CF6-80C2 engine, used on wide-body jets, entered commercial service in 1985. The engine powers the U.S. government's Air Force One, which is used for carrying the president.

[Willie Green]

I guess I must have known that Italy must have some kind of air force.
But it never occurred to me that they'd need tankers for refueling.

[kellynla]

Yea, they need tankers to refuel those Lambroghinis and Ferraris... ROFLMAO

[kellynla]

Yea, they need tankers to refuel those Lamborghinis and Ferraris... ROFLMAO

[JasonC]

They have about 350 fighters. They will soon be fielding 120 of the new Eurofighter Typhoons, which will take over the air superiority mission. In the meantime they have leased 34 F-16s to suppliment their 24 air-superiority model Tornados, and an obsolete fleet of 96 F-104s.

Both the F-104s and the air superiority Tornados will be phased out when the Eurofighters are in place. The rest of the force is split between strike version of the Tornado (92 of them, plus 16 electronic warfare versions) and 107 of a home built strike plane, the AMX-1. They also have about 20 Harriers in the navy.

The F-104s aren't good for much, the rest is a decent force for ground attack without much in the way of air to air combat ability. When the Eurofighters arrive that will change, and the force will be balanced 1 to 2 between air superiority and strike.

They also have helos, transports, trainers, refuelers, airborne warning, marine patrol, etc. Overall, they are a regular NATO power of middling size. The air superiority fighter part of the force needs modernizing but that is well underway.