Nato nuclear exercise in Italy, starting on October 13 "Steadfast Noon": what to know

What caused the case to explode in Italy was not an announcement from the executive, but rather a technical note from ENAV (the national civil aviation body) which linked civil air corridors to the needs of the military. The flows will touch strategic bases throughout the peninsula: in Northern Italy, in particular, in Ghedi (Brescia) and Aviano (Pordenone), with corridors crossing Lombardy, Friuli and the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. In the South and on the Islands, the bases of Amendola (Foggia), Gioia del Colle (Bari) and Trapani will be involved, with strong concentrations of air, naval and drone activities on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Normally the NATO summit communicates the start of "Steadfast Noon" to the media well in advance. This year, however, the ENAV note arrived first indicating which air corridors will be linked to military operations from 13 to 20 October. A circumstance that pushed Angelo Bonelli, co-spokesperson for Green Europe and deputy of the Green and Left Alliance, to announce a question to Defense Minister Guido Crosetto: "We learned about the NATO exercise on nuclear weapons not from the government, but from a technical document from the pilots: it describes a large-scale multinational exercise, with air and naval operations on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The planes will depart from the bases of Ghedi, Aviano, Amendola, Gioia del Colle and Trapani, with activities along corridors that cross the entire peninsula: from Friuli and Lombardy along the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, from Puglia towards the west and from western Sicily, intense military aerial activity, shooting and use of drones are expected, without the type and role being specified: even unmanned systems therefore enter the scenario of a simulated nuclear war". Bonelli concluded: "In the midst of an international crisis that is pushing the world towards rearmament, Italy cannot practice nuclear war: it must adhere to the UN Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and ask for the withdrawal of warheads from our territory. Security is built with disarmament and diplomacy, not by simulating the apocalypse above our heads".

The annual and scheduled training activity, which will take place over the course of a week, is aimed, as explained in the Air Force note, at "maintaining the preparation of the capabilities and procedures that contribute to the deterrence and defense of the Alliance". The exercise falls within the framework of NATO's integrated strategic defense, in which Italy has participated as a member country of the Alliance since 1949. Italy has hosted the exercise six times already: in 2010, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2021 and 2023.