Pratt & Whitney and the Italian Air Force celebrated the highly successful Peace Caesar F-16 lease program and supporting Pratt & Whitney F100 Fleet Management Program during the F-16 departure ceremony May 23 at Trapani Air Base, Italy.
The Performance Based Logistics program was designed to provide affordable readiness for the Italian Air Force fleet when they began to operate the F-16 in 2003. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. company.
The program capitalized on the unique resources of Pratt & Whitney, the U.S. Air Force and Italian Air Force including partnering with the Italian Air Force maintenance team at Cervia Air Base for engine maintenance. The team managed Italy’s F100-PW-220 engines through nine years of operation and 47,000 flight hours.
The Pratt & Whitney-powered fleet of F-16 fighters flew key missions for the Italian Air Force at home and abroad. Italy’s F-16s played an important role in the Italian Air Force’s support of recent NATO peacekeeping missions, and in several notable domestic missions, including the Papal inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI, the 2006 Winter Olympics and the 2009 G8 Summit.
“Reaching successful program completion underscores Pratt & Whitney’s commitment to reliability, readiness, and unmatched product safety,” said Mark Buongiorno, director of F100 Engine Programs and Customer Support, Pratt & Whitney. “We are pleased that our F100 engines and our maintenance partnership with Cervia Air Base were able to meet our collective high standards and successfully supported the Italian Air Force’s flight operations. We are honored to have had Pratt & Whitney F100 engines power the Italian Air Force’s efforts to achieve critical peacekeeping goals as part of important NATO campaigns.”
Pratt & Whitney’s F100, powering F-15 and F-16 aircraft worldwide, is one of the most successful fighter engines in history. The combat-proven engine has more than 27 million engine flying hours of experience. More than 23 air forces around the world have chosen the F100 for its safe, reliable power. Pratt & Whitney has built more than 7,200 F100 engines for customers around the globe.
