Since its establishment in February 1934, the 9th Wing was operational until 8 September 1943 before then being reconstituted in 1967 as a fighter interceptor Wing at Grazzanise airport (near Naples, south Italy), containing the 10th Group equipped with Lockheed F-104s. In 2004, the 10th Group was transferred to Trapani air base in Sicily within the 37th Wing.

Two years later in 2006, the 21st Group (also known as the Tiger Group, bearing the motto ‘Ad hostes rugens’ [roaring at the enemy]) was assembled and assigned to the 9th Wing as part of the NATO Tiger Association initiative. It was equipped with Bell HH-212 helicopters and tasked with performing special forces operations and search and rescue (SAR) missions. In summer 2020, the Wing received its first Leonardo HH-101A Caesar to replace the aging HH-212s and improve its operational capabilities.

The phase-out of the HH-212

All 12 of the HH-101A Caesars are now located in Grazzanise, constituting the 9th Wing’s only flight asset now that the last HH-212 was withdrawn from service on 22 February 2024. This followed a phase-out ceremony that paid homage to an aircraft that had served the Air Force admirably since 1979, when it first acquired three of the Bell helicopters, to which another 32 were subsequently added.

In over 40 years of service, the HH-212 has been widely used for SAR and combat SAR missions, both with the 9th Wing and with other Air Force departments, both in Italy and abroad.

By the time of decommissioning, this helicopter had reached a total of over 180,000 flight hours and saved hundreds of lives, always with maximum reliability, effectiveness and safety.

The 9th Wing has to face increasingly complex and demanding scenarios, so it has chosen to change platform to the new Leonardo HH-101A helicopter, which offers a performance that multiplies the operational capabilities of the Wing that cannot be achieved with the HH-212.

The 9th Wing today

The 9th Wing is located in Grazzanise, and the 17th Wing Incursori (special forces) are based in Furbara. They depend on the 1st Special Operations Air Brigade (BAOS), also based in Furbara, which supervises their training, developing their integration, procedures and standardization. Close coordination is necessary as the 9th Wing provides the air component while the 17th Wing provides the special forces personnel for the complex missions that they perform.

In addition to the assault missions typical of the special forces, the 9th and 17th Wings carry out valuable activities aimed at safeguarding lives and for which the special forces train constantly by simulating different scenarios:

• Personnel recovery: the recovery of people – civilians and military – from dangerous situations in crisis areas

• Combat SAR: SAR of crews in combat zones

• Medevac: emergency medical evacuation.

The last flight of the HH-212 from the 21st Group of the 9th Wing of the Italian Air Force flying over countryside around the air base in Grazzanise, near Naples, front of the Royal Palace of Caserta, and above a golf course on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Also shown are the Leonardo HH-101As that have replaced the HH-212, in black and grey livery with a special forces team during a training sortie.