New Helicopters for EUNAVFOR MED operation SOPHIA
One SH-90 
[192 KB] and one AB-212 [213 KB] helicopters of the Italian Navy have embarked on Board ITS GARIBALDI , operation SOPHIA’s Flagship, to increase EUNAVFOR MED air capabilities after the departure of other air assets on board. The two newly embarked helicopters enhance ship’s capability to conduct Intelligence, Surveillance and Recognition mission in the area of operations.
The SH-90, based at the 5thHelicopter Squadron of Luni (La Spezia), is a newcomer in the Italian Naval Aviation, and with the outstanding performances of its state of the art sensors will be able to enlarge the operational arm of operation SOPHIA.
The AB-212 is instead based at the 4th Helicopter Squadron in Grottaglie (Taranto) and represents the backbone of Italian Navy aviation, able to support all duties implied in the core mandate as disrupting the business model of human smugglers and traffickers and, of course, in support of rescue operations if required.
Yesterday, 5 July, EUNAVFOR MED Force Commander went on board the SH-90 helicopter during a recognition flight, to test the waters of its actual capabilities.
Lately, two EH 101 helicopters based at the 3rd Helicopter Squadron base in Catania returned home accomplishing all assigned duties in more than one year of deployment. The numbers, in this case, can easily highlight the effectiveness of EH 101 contribution in operation SOPHIA: 500 hours in flight and 322 missions to collect pieces of information on all the activities in the area of operations, gathering also awareness of suspicious activities.
At the moment, operation SOPHIA Task Force can count on 5 ships (1 Italian light aircraft carrier, 1 German auxiliary ship, 1 German mine hunter, 1 UK hydrographic ship, 1 Spanish frigate), 3 organic helicopters (2 Italian, 1 Spanish) and 3 air assets (Luxembourg, Spain, France).