The Marina Militare (Italian Navy) has staged a major power projection deployment and Defence Diplomacy effort to win friends and influence people on the far side of the world.

It sent the Italian Carrier Strike Group (IT-CSG) to Australia, composed of ITS Cavour (flagship) and the frigate ITS Alpino, as escort, and which operated out of Darwin in the Northern Territories.

The warships left from Taranto on June 1 as part of a strategic deployment in the Indo-Pacific region, which sees the group training and operating with the navies of various nations while flying the flag during at least ten port visits.

Embarked aboard the carrier Cavour are seven AV-8B Harriers and six F-35B jets of the Marine Militare plus two from the Italian Air Force. The naval jets flew ashore while the ship was in Australia to take part in the initial stage of Exercise Pitch Black, Australia’s biggest international air combat training exercise.

Both Cavour and Alpino were, following the Force Integration Training (FIT) phase of Pitch Black, able to contribute their own air warfare capabilities to the training, both in the defensive and offensive sense.

Six of the Cavour’s AV-8Bs returned to the ship after FIT, so they could ‘carry out the role of Red Air opposition forces,’ according to the Italian Navy.

Next for the IT-CSG after Pitch Black was a visit to Japan, a nation that is currently modifying its own small carriers to operate F-35Bs and will likely have much to learn from the experience of the Marina Militare with Cavour.

During the deployment the Italian Carrier Strike Group has achieved Initial Operating Capability. Italy and the UK are the only two European navies to currently operate carriers with F-35Bs. The US Navy and US Marine Corps operate both the F-35B and F-35C from carriers.

• For more on the post-Australia part of the Italian carrier group’s deployment see our forthcoming October 2024 edition.

• Material provided by the ADF, RAN, RAAF, Marina Militare, the Italian Embassy, Canberra, Italian Armed Forces Defense General Staff.