Antarctica: ENEA-Defense agreement on air transport for Italian expeditions

ENEA Director General Graditi also aboard the C130J flight that inaugurated the season

ENEA and the Ministry of Defense have signed an agreement confirming their collaboration for the logistics management of scientific missions in Antarctica, with the Italian Air Force (AMI) ensuring the air transport of personnel, materials and equipment between New Zealand and the Antarctic continent for the entire 41st expedition currently underway.

The agreement, which sees a significant contribution from the Ministry of Defense in terms of technical and specialized personnel from all Armed Forces, was inaugurated with a C130J-30 flight from the 46th Air Brigade, which landed on the Antarctic ice pack carrying ENEA Director General Giorgio Graditi, visiting personnel at the Mario Zucchelli and Concordia Antarctic bases.

The Italian Air Force will operate six flights between New Zealand (Christchurch) and Antarctica, two to the US McMurdo Station and four to the Italian Mario Zucchelli Station, to transport personnel and materials.

The agreement is the outcome of a dialogue by ENEA and the Joint Steering Committee for the Arctic, Sub-Arctic, and Antarctic Environment, a body recently established by the Chief of Defense Staff, General Luciano Portolano, to coordinate national strategic activities in the polar regions. The committee operates under a specific Ministerial Decree assigning the Undersecretary of Defense, Senator Isabella Rauti, the task of implementing the Ministry of Defense's guidelines.

"Defense support represents a significant step for the National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA) in which, since its establishment in 1985, ENEA has played a leading role in organizing and coordinating the logistics of Italian missions", Graditi said before departing from Christchurch Airport, New Zealand, for the Antarctic continent. "This agreement," he added, "not only facilitates the organization of our missions, but confirms the strategic value of our activities in Antarctica".

The Italian missions to Antarctica, now in their 41st year, are conducted as part of the National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA), funded by the Ministry of Universities and Research (MUR) and managed by the National Research Council (CNR) for scientific coordination, by ENEA for planning and logistical organization of activities at the Antarctic bases and by the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (OGS) for the technical and scientific management of the icebreaker Laura Bassi.

This year, the Armed Forces are taking part in the expedition with 20 military experts from the Air Force, Army, Navy and Carabinieri.