The 61° Stormo FT-339CD flight line. This type is operated by 213° Gruppo for training phase 2 and 3 and by 212° Gruppo for training phase 4, but in the near future it will be used only by 213° Gruppo.

Above the Apulian coast, a formation of all three types in service with 61° Stormo: the T-339A, FT-339CD and T-346A.

The first Italian Air Force training course on the T-346A is scheduled to start at Lecce in August 2015; on qualifying the four students are destined for the F-2000.

A new badge was adopted by 610 Stormo on May 10, 2015. Seen here on a T-346A, it features an eagle in black and is considered more representative of the wing’s 'fighter school' orientation than the earlier badge.

The first Italian Air Force training course on the T-346A is scheduled to start at Lecce in August 2015; on qualifying the four students are destined for the F-2000.

Two T-346As from 212° Gruppo perform aerobatic manoeuvres above Apulia. By the end of the year, the squadron will operate six examples of this aircraft.

A T-346A during the last pre take-off checks, inside one of the new ‘soft shelter’ hangars at Lecce built for the new trainer.

Four 212° Gruppo T-346As overfly Decimomannu at the end of their first deployment for air-to-ground and air-to-air training this spring.

A T-346A lands at Decimomannu after an air-to-ground training sortie carrying a BRD pod used to deliver training rockets and bomblets.

The control console station of the T-346 full mission simulator.

The Alenia Aermacchi T-346A full motion simulator inside the new 212° Gruppo building at Lecce Air Base.

The Ground Based Training System incorporates nine simulator based training stations, which allow the student to ‘fly’ the T-346A without time limits until to boost their knowledge all the aircraft systems and avionics.