Japan joins Qatar and Germany and elects to train JASDF (Japan Air Self-Defense Force) pilots at the Italian Air Force’s and Leonardo’s International Flight Training School (IFTS).

The new International Flight Training School (IFTS), a joint venture between the Italian Air Force and Leonardo, currently located at Lecce-Galatina Air Base, in southeastern Italy, but about to relocate to Decimomannu Air Base, Sardinia, continues to attract the interest of foreign air forces.

After the two Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) pilots, who have already reached the final stage of the LIFT (Lead In to Fighter Training) course, and the two German Air Force pilots, who have recently begun their advanced flight training (or Phase IV) at the Italian arbase, Japanese military pilots will also take part in the advanced training courses (Phase IV) at the International Flight Training School (IFTS), soon.

On Oct. 26, 2021, the (then) Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force, General Alberto Rosso (just replaced in the role by Gen. Luca Goretti), and the Chief of Staff of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), General Shunji Izutsu, have signed, in “distance mode” (by means of a virtual meeting) a technical arrangement on the training of Japanese military pilots at the IFTS