4th Army Aviation Support Regiment "Scorpione"


The 4th Army Aviation Support Regiment "Scorpione" is an active unit of the Italian Army based at Viterbo Airport near Rome in Lazio. The regiment is part of the Italian army's army aviation and operationally assigned to the Army Aviation Support Command. The regiment provides 2nd-line maintenance, upgrade and test services for the CH-47F "Chinook" helicopters, Shadow 200 drones, and P180 Avanti II and Do 228 planes of the 1st Army Aviation Regiment "Antares", and the to army's flight simulators.

History

The regiment was formed on 1 September 1996 by elevating the existing 4th Army Aviation Repairs Unit to regiment without changing the unit's size or composition. The unit traces its roots back to the 4th Light Army Aviation Repairs Unit, which was raised on 15 June 1976 to support the newly arriving CH-47C "Chinook" helicopters. The unit was granted a war flag by the President of the Italian Republic on 12 December 1989 and on 2 June 1993 it dropped "Light" from its name. Since 2012 the regiment is part of the Army Aviation Support Command.

Naming

Since the 1975 army reform Italian army aviation units are named for celestial objects: support regiments are numbered with a single digit and named for one of the 88 modern constellationss. As in 1996 the 4th Army Aviation Repairs Unit was supporting the 1st Army Aviation Regiment "Antares", which was named for Antares, the brightest star in the Scorpius constellation, the army decided to name the new 4th Army Aviation Support Regiment "Scorpione" to affirm the two regiment's relationship.
As the regiment was founded in the city of Viterbo the regiment's coats of arms first quarter depicts Viterbo's coat of arms.

Current Structure

As of 2019 the 4th Army Aviation Support Regiment "Scorpione" consists of: