Royal Vatican Air Force

**The Air Force of the Vatican States is the branch of the Armed Forces of the Vatican States that is responsible for air warfare. It was created on November 13, 1906 by order of King Javier I of Savoy due to the need to control the kingdom's military aircraft. The Air Force articulates its basic functions in its 2010 Position Statement as: nuclear deterrence operations, special operations, air superiority, intelligence, surveillance and global reconnaissance, superiority in space, command and control, superiority in cyberspace, rescue of personnel, global precision strike, military consulting and collaboration, global air mobility, and combat support. In 2019, La Fuerza Aere has a staff of 1,100,000 active duty military personnel and 100,000.**

# ***Relevant Data***

**Active: November 13, 1917**

**Type: Air Force**

**Specialization: Air War**

**Size: 1,200,000 Military**

**Part of the Armed Forces of the Vatican States**

**Barracks: The Hexagon**

**Commander in Chief: Francisco I**

**Secretary of the Air Force: Simonetta Pisano**

**Chief of Staff of the Air Force: General Aviator Fedro Napolitano**

**Second Chief of Staff of the Air Force: Lieutenant General Aviator Silvano Lombardi**

**Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force: Air Force Major General Tommaso Marcelo**

**Motto: We will be in the air to protect you**

# ***Mission***

**-Aerial superiority**

**-Intelligence**

**-surveillance**

**-goal acquisition**

**-recognition.**

**-Fast global mobility**

**-Air Refueling**

**-Strategic Bombing**

**-Command and control**

# ***Organization***

**The Air Force is organized into 9 Commands to carry out autonomous operations although all these are directed by the central command located in Rome, the 9 commands are:**

**-Central Command**

**-Air Combat Command**

**-Air Training Command**

**-Air Mobility Command**

**-Special Operations Command**

**-Command of the Reserve**

**-Bombarding Command**

**-Global Attack Command**

**-Intelligence Command**

# ***Ranks (From Low to High)***

**-Aviator**

**-Senior Airman**

**-Aviator Sergeant**

**-Aviator Sergeant Major**

**-Aviator Alferez**

**-First Lieutenant Aviator**

**-Captain Aviator**

**-Major Aviator**

**- Lieutenant Colonel Aviator**

**-Colonel Aviator**

**-Brigade General Aviator**

**-Major General Aviator**

**-Lt. General Aviator**

**-General Aviator**

# ***Weapons***

### **Machine gun**

**-M240: Medium**

**-M2 Browning: Heavy**

# **Vehicles**

**-Humvee: Transport Vehicle - 35,000 UNITS**

**-R-11 Refueler: Aircraft Refueling - 40,000 UNITS**

# ***Aircraft***

### ***Ground attack***

**-A-10 Thunderbolt II: Insignia Plane - 300 Aircraft**

**-Su-25: Special operations - 290 Aircraft**

### ***Bombers***

**-B-1 Lancer: Supersonic bomber - 114 Aircraft**

**-B-52 Stratofortress: Subsonic bomber - 150 Aircraft**

### ***Fighters***

**-F-22 Raptor: Stealth Air Superiority Fighter - 236 Aircraft**

**-F-16 Fighting Falcon: Multipurpose hunting - 594 Aircraft**

**-F-15E Strike Eagle: Fighter-bomber - 359 Aircraft**

**-F-15 Eagle: Air superiority fighter - 346 Aircraft**

**-F-35 Lightning II: Multi-role stealth fighter - 191 Aircraft**

### ***Transport***

**-C-5 Galaxy: Strategic transportation - 204 Aircraft**

**-C-12 Huron: Light transport - 65 Aircraft**

**-C-17 Globemaster III: Tactical transport - 308 Aircraft**

**-Gulfstream IV: Transportation of Personnel or Senior Managers - 145 Aircraft**

**-Lockheed C-130 Hercules: Tactical Transport - 456 Aircraft**

### ***Electronic warfare***

**-E-3 Sentry: Early warning and airborne control - 59 Aircraft**

**-Boeing E-4: Airborne command post - 8 Aircraft**

**-E-8 Joint STARS: battle management - 28 Aircraft**

**-Lockheed EC-130H Compass Call: Electronic warfare - 23 Aircraft**

**-Lockheed EC-130J Commando Solo: Information and psychological operations - 15 Aircraft**

**-Schweizer SA2-37B: Electronic surveillance platform - 35 Aircraft**

### ***Search and rescue***

**-Lockheed HC-130: Search and rescue in combat - 54 Aircraft**

### ***Tanker***

**-KC-135 Stratotanker: In-flight refueling - 560 Aircraft**

### ***Multi-mission***

**-Lockheed MC-130: Special operations - 96 Aircraft**

### ***Observation***

**-Boeing OC-135 Open Skies: Observation - 7 Aircraft**

### ***Reconnaissance***

**-Lockheed U-2: Surveillance against drug trafficking - 29 Aircraft**

**-Fairchild RC-26 Metroliner: High altitude reconnaissance - 43 Aircraft**

### ***training***

**-Beechcraft T-1 Jayhawk: Advanced trainer - 268 Aircraft**

**-Beechcraft T-6 Texan II: Basic trainer - 677 Aircraft**

**-Northrop T-38 Talon: Advanced trainer - 555 Aircraft**

### ***Weather reconnaissance***

**-Lockheed WC-130 Weatherbird: Weather reconnaissance - 31 Aircraft**

**-Boeing WC-135 Constant Phoenix: Atmospheric tests related to nuclear incidents - 3 Aircraft**

# ***VTOL aircraft***

**-Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey: VTOL transport - 134 Aircraft**

# ***Helicopters***

**-Boeing CH-47 Chinook: heavy lift transport helicopter - 553 Helicopters**

**-Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk: Search and rescue - 150 Helicopters**

**-Bell UH-1N Iroquois: Transportation between bases - 124 Helicopters**

**-Bell UH-1 Iroquois: Evacuación médica - 59 Helicopters**

**-Boeing AH-64 Apache: Attack helicopter - 1.040 Helicopters**

# ***UAVS***

**-MQ-1 Predator:Multi-mission - 545 UAVS**