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ITS Cavour (C-550) ?? STOVL-powered aircraft carrier, until 2020 it operated AV-8 B Harrier, after a reformation in the next few days it will depart to the US to begin calibration tests with the F-35 B Lightning II. So far the Italian Navy and the Air Force have requested 15 units of the F-35 B each, the first has received 3 aircraft. A few days ago, Chief of Staff of the Navy Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone confirmed the departure of the ship Cavour ??: ?? The Cavour will leave at the end of the month and we are preparing the ship to go to the United States where it will be studied along with the Marines Corps Test Center the F-35 development scheme to set out what are the extreme limits to trying to have a flexible ship in launching and capturing planes. We'll qualify for the adaptation of our riders already in America ?? who are doing the course on the F-35 ". On the possibility that in the future there will be cooperation between the two armed forces, the ? Admiral Cavo Dragone stated that ?? integration can and certainly will be done, but as it happened with the Air Force, which obtained the operating capacity Initial Alpha (F-35 A, ed) in 2018, the Navy must reach the same goal for its component. When Cavour has obtained solid initial capacity, interests and training activities will converge. But first you need to create that hard core ".