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The Operational Raiders Group (Gruppo Operativo Incursori, GOI) recently conducted a complex Maritime Counter-Terrorism (MCT) exercise. This activity was designed to test their capabilities in terms of readiness, projection, and operational intervention.
Specifically, in an exercise scenario involving a Hostage Release Operation (HRO) on an Italian merchant vessel seized in international waters far from the mainland, a GOI assault team, consisting of a Special Operations Task Unit (SOTU), took off from Pisa military airport onboard a 46th Air Brigade C130J aircraft of the Italian Air Force. Their mission was to reach the area of operations using free fall parachuting, along with a Zodiac Hurricane 7.33 rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), which was also air-dropped on a specific PURIBAD platform (Platform Universal, Rigid  Inflatable Boat Aerial Delivery).

Thanks to this insertion capability - called Maritime Craft Aerial Delivery System (MCADS) - the GOI can intervene anywhere with maximum speed, especially with the support of Italian Navy air-naval assets that might be present in the area of operations, crucial for supporting special operations in the maritime domain. This makes it a particularly valuable capability for which the Italian Navy Raiders are in a state of constant readiness for interventions both abroad with the Joint Special Forces Operations Command (Comando Interforze per le Operazioni delle Forze Speciali) and within national territory in cooperation with other government departments.

The conduct of these activities is a virtuous model of deep joint synergy among the Armed Forces for the GOI's strategic projection. This is made possible by the essential contributions of the 46th Air Brigade of the Italian Air Force - with its aircraft and flight crews qualified for heavy load airdrop - and the Army's Air Suppliers, who are part of the Parachute Training Centre's (CAPAR) Air Battalion, under the 'Folgore' Paratroopers Brigade. They handle the delicate and complex phases of preparing the platform-RHIB system for paradrop​