Italian-French submarine hunting exercise

On 6 and 7 March, a joint submarine hunting exercise was held in the waters of the central Mediterranean by the Marine Nationale and Marina Militare. The Italian frigates were involved Alpino and Margottini and the French Languedoc. The three ships are Fremm frigates, a joint Italian-French project.
The ships' task was to track down the Italian submarine Venuti. In addition to the frigates' own helicopters, a French Breguet Atlantique 2 was also available to the frigates for the extensive aerial search. This had been transferred to Sigonella Air Force Base for the exercise. An ASW SH 101 helicopter from the Maristaeli Catania naval air base also took part, with the crews mastering a complex exercise in shallow waters, a particularly challenging environment for submarine hunting.
At the end of the 48-hour exercise, the three ships carried out joint manoeuvres before returning to their respective areas of operation.

Text: mb; Photo: Marina Militare