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Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella(IATA: NSY, ICAO: LICZ) is an Italian Air Force base (Italian: Aeroporto "Cosimo Di Palma" di Sigonella), and a U.S. Navy installation at Italian Air Force Base Sigonella in Sicily, Italy. The whole NAS is a tenant of the Italian Air Force, which has the military and the administrative control.[1] It serves as an Italian base for the 41º Stormo Antisom (41st Antisubmarine Warfare Wing). NAS Sigonella acts also as landlord to more than 40 other U.S. commands and activities. It is located 15km (8NM) west and 11km (6NM) south of the city of Catania, and some 40km (22NM) south of Mount Etna.
The NAS is located in the western part of the large airport structure, while the Italian military base is located in the eastern part. Because of its location near the center of the Mediterranean Sea, NASSIG is well placed to support operations by the U.S. 6th Fleet, other U.S. military units, and U.S. allies and coalition partners.
NAS Sigonella has the best claim to be hub of U.S. naval air operations in the Mediterranean. The base command is landlord to more than 40 other U.S. units. Among the largest are a rotating P-8A patrol squadron; a Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station; and a U.S. Naval Hospital. The hospital was built in 1992. Previously, there was only a clinic and the closest U.S. Naval Hospital was at Naples. Sigonella is home to more than 4,000 troops, civilian personnel, and family members.
NAS Sigonella is the Navy's second largest security command, second only to that located at Naval Support Activity Bahrain. NAS Sigonella also has a large support of security personnel from NR NSF Sigonella, a Navy Reserve command based in NRC Detroit at Selfridge ANGB, Michigan.
The Naval Air Station comprises two sections: NAS I was the site of the original U.S. base but is now a support facility, and NAS II which includes the runways, operations and most tenant commands. NAS I also contains the Navy Exchange and Commissary, the school, and some homes, mainly for the commodore of Task Force 67, the air station commanding officer, air station executive officer and commanding officers of tenant activities. NAS I also is host to other facilities, mainly for entertainment. NAS II is now only used as a service base.
In Sigonella is based also the Alliance Ground Surveillance Force (NAGSF) with five RQ-4D Phoenix remotely piloted aircraft and the associated European-sourced ground command and control stations.
History
The United States Naval Air Facility (NAF), Sigonella, was established 15 June 1959. Its first commanding officer was Captain Walter J. Frazier. The facility was conceived in the early 1950s, when plans to base U.S. Navy P2V Neptunes at Hal Far, Malta began to outgrow the facility.
When there was no room for expansion at Malta, the U.S. Navy obtained NATO backing to be hosted by Sicilians. Italy made land available under a temporary agreement signed 25 June 1957. Six days later, Landing Ship Tank (LSTs) began to deliver equipment from the Malta base.
Ground was broken in September, and construction on the administrative area at NAF I was started in 1958. It was built on top of an airfield where damaged fighters and bombers of the German Air Force had once landed during the Second World War. The first Americans arrived for work at Sigonella in March 1959—six months before any buildings were ready—and so worked for six months in Catania at a large warehouse complex called Magazzino Generale (General Warehouse), which is opposite the cemetery on the right side of the street as one enters Catania from the base.
By the end of August 1959, the NAF II airfield was available for daylight flights under visual flight rules (VFR); 24 flights were logged by 31 August.
One of Sigonella's first buildings was what is now the American Forces Network (AFN) building. In 1958, that building was Sigonella's vector (pest) control center, where rat poison was stored. The ArmyCorps of Engineers next used the building for their offices, later sharing it with Special Services, or what is now called Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR). Around 1966, AFN came to Sigonella and joined Special Services, which soon moved out, leaving the building to the broadcasters.
Sigonella's first flood occurred mid-September 1959. The Dittaino Bridge between NAF I and NAF II was under six feet of water on 20 September and all traffic had to go through Catania. Power outages accompanied the floods.
On the night of 10 October 1985, there were tense hours on NAS II when the Italian Carabinieri, Italian Air Force, and the US Army's Delta Force came close to firing upon one another following the interception by US Navy F-14 Tomcat fighters of an Egyptian Boeing 737 airliner carrying the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship, the Achille Lauro, which had been commandeered by members of the PLO on 7 October. The hijackers had killed a Jewish American Leon Klinghoffer. The F-14s instructed the Egyptian plane to land at Sigonella where the Americans had planned to take the hijackers into custody. The Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi instead claimed the hijackers were under Italian jurisdiction. The Italian authorities, therefore, refused to allow the Navy SEALs to board the plane, threatening to open fire on the Americans had they made an attempt to do so. The ensuing stand-off lasted throughout the night, until President Ronald Reagan gave the orders for the Americans to stand down. The hijackers were eventually tried and sentenced by an Italian court.[2]
A taxiway on NAS Sigonella
In late 1985, work crews belonging to NMCB 133 were repairing and installing sidewalks in the housing area at NAS I when they uncovered a small stockpile of Luftwaffe antiaircraft ammunition. The stockpile had apparently belonged to an antiaircraft position that had been buried during raids in the Allied invasion of 1943.[3]
On 1 April 2004, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) opened Defense Depot Sigonella Italy on NAS II to serve as a supply base for the Mediterranean. DLA also provides fuel and property disposal from NAS II.
Sigonella suffered its second major flood mid December 2005. Over 400 service members and family evacuated. In 2006, a newly installed protective berm prevented a nearly second consecutive year of flooding.
When NATO took military intervention to Libya in 2011, NAS Sigonella played an important role in US Operation Odyssey Dawn because of its short distance to the country. As Libya remained unstable in 2013, a Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force–Crisis Response unit was formed and an element of this was moved to the base to be within V-22 range of Libya.[4][5]
In 2019, an investigation by Sigonella's Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) office and the local Carabinieri led to the arrest of 18 individuals suspected of stealing over 100,000 litres (22,000impgal; 26,000USgal) of JP-5 jet fuel. According to the investigators, the criminal operation, which involved the siphoning of jet fuel from a pipeline connecting Augusta Bay with NAS Sigonella, had been ongoing for almost 3 years and caused approximately 800,000 Euros in damages.[6]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, most of the base including recreational facilities, daycare programs and the school were shut down to slow the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus.[7]
Facilities
Entrance to the Sigonella air base
The Base Operating and Support Services contractor Gemmo is responsible for pest management at the station.[8]
Airport
The airport resides at an elevation of 79 feet (24m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 10R/28L which measures 2,462 by 45 metres (8,077ft ×148ft) and 10L/28R measuring 2,442 by 28 metres (8,012ft ×92ft).[9]
Housing
Most permanent party military personnel and families are housed in Marinai, located 2 minutes from NAS II and approximately 10–15 minutes from NAS I. Marinai flooded in December 2005 displacing many families temporarily. Also in Marinai is Boy Scout Troop 53[10] and Cub Scout Pack 53. Previously, "Mineo" was used as a housing base, but has since been returned to Italian Nationals and is no longer in service. Temporarily deployed unaccompanied military personnel, typically from rotational squadrons deployed from the United States, are housed in bachelor enlisted quarters and bachelor officer quarters located at NAS II.
From 1987 to 2002, there was a base housing development Villaggio Costanzo which was located in the village of Santa Maria La Stella, in the comune of Aci Sant'Antonio, and approximately 60 minutes from NAS I. The closest community to the base is Motta Sant'Anastasia, where many military personnel and their families live in rented accommodation on the economy. Relations between the Americans and the local Italian nationals are cordial, despite some anti-American demonstrations outside the base protesting the Iraq War. Many Italian nationals are employed as civilian workers at the base.
Educational opportunities
Family support includes pre-Kindergarten and Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DoDDs) K-12 schooling. In-person college-level courses are delivered by several universities.[11] In particular, the University of Maryland Global Campus – Europe (formerly the European Division)[12] offers a wide range of courses, depending on demand.
The Italian Armed Forces encompass the Italian Army, the Italian Navy and the Italian Air Force. A fourth branch of the armed forces, known as the Carabinieri, take on the role as the nation's military police and are also involved in missions and operations abroad as a combat force. Despite not being a branch of the armed forces, the Guardia di Finanza is organized along military lines. These five forces comprise a total of 340,885 men and women with the official status of active military personnel, of which 167,057 are in the Army, Navy and Air Force. The President of the Italian Republic heads the armed forces as the President of the High Council of Defence established by article 87 of the Constitution of Italy. According to article 78, the Parliament has the authority to declare a state of war and vest the powers to lead the war in the Government.
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↑ Carmelo, Lgt. Savoca (13 November 2018). "Cambio di comando al 41° Stormo"[Change of command at the 41st Wing]. Aeronautica Militare (in Italian). Retrieved 20 December 2020.
↑ "Tenant Commands". Commander, Navy Region Europe, Africa, Central – Naval Air Station Sigonella. United States Navy. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
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