SIFEX 26: Italian and Swiss air forces conducted joint training in Italy

Swiss F-18 Hornet and F-2000A Typhoon fighters return from a mission as part of the
SIFEX 26 exercise.

Istrana Air Base in Northern Italy—home to the Italian Air Force's 51st Wing—hosted the joint Italian-Swiss air exercise SIFEX (Swiss-Italy Flight Exercise) from August 31 to September 11, 2026. Now in its third edition, SIFEX represents a significant opportunity for joint air training between the Italian and Swiss air forces.

SIFEX 26 offered participants a further opportunity to enhance integration, coordination, and interoperability, while fostering the exchange of technical and procedural knowledge between the services of the two neighboring countries.

For the Swiss Air Force, this marked their third deployment to Istrana Air Base, a location selected once again due to the technical and logistical support capabilities provided by the 51st Wing.

The Italian Air Force participated with Eurofighter F-2000A Typhoon and F-35A combat aircraft, while the Swiss contingent operated F-18 Hornet fighters, flying multiple daily sorties from Istrana.

In addition to the Eurofighters from the 132nd Squadron, the 51st Wing provided crucial logistical and operational support. This created further opportunities for Italian and Swiss personnel to exchange knowledge and experience, particularly in areas such as maintenance, refueling, cross-servicing, and air traffic management.

For the Swiss Air Force, SIFEX offers the chance to train in an operational area far larger than those available in Switzerland, enabling the execution of activities of greater complexity than standard Swiss training scenarios. For the Italian Air Force, the exercise represented a further opportunity for air defense training. Given the current complex and delicate global context, exercises of this kind are essential for maintaining Air Policing capabilities and ensuring the surveillance and defense of national and Atlantic Alliance airspace. The Italian Air Force actively supports and contributes to these tasks through Air Policing operations in Iceland, the Baltic states, and Romania.

SIFEX enables the continuous refinement of key procedures for cooperation with other nations in response to potential airspace violations. SIFEX 26 focused on simulated air defense and air combat missions of progressively increasing complexity, allowing both armed forces to derive maximum benefit from the time spent together in Italy.

Report by Matteo Sanzani