In Sardinia training future Top Guns with Leonardo technology

10 June 2024

In Decimomannu, Sardinia, eighty students from ten nations are training on the latest generation of combat aircraft at the International Flight Training School (IFTS). An article in La Repubblica, by Gianluca Di Feo, describes the activities of the academy, born from the collaboration between Leonardo and the Italian Air Force.

As an advanced flight training centre, the IFTS offers an accelerated programme to military pilots from air forces around the world. Trainees attending the courses already have all the necessary licences and are preparing for the last phase of their training before entering the F-35 cockpit.

The Decimomannu academy provides cutting-edge facilities and hi-tech simulators for comprehensive training, with a training approach that focuses on the individual and his or her individual capabilities. Using the simulators, students can interact with real aircraft, part of a fleet of twenty-two M-346s, for a mixed experience that integrates jets in flight and virtual aircraft in the classroom.

The experience within the centre will be narrated through the voices of the students in the docu-series "Piloti Caccia - International Flight Training School", produced as part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Italian Air Force, which will be aired on Rai 2 in late evening from Wednesday 12 June.