January 10, 2008:
Italy has grounded
its 70 AMX light bombers for safety inspections. This was not ordered by the
Italian Air Force, but by s judge, who was investigating the crash of an
AMXin 2005. Judges do stuff like that
in Italy.
The AMX is a joint Italian-Brazilian
effort. It is a 13 ton aircraft that can carry four tons of weapons. The AMX
looks like a fighter (and can carry heat seeking air-to-air missiles), but it
was designed for ground attack. It carries rockets, bombs, missiles and smart
bombs. It is also equipped with an autocannon (20mm in the Italian version,
30mm in the Brazilian one). Some 200 AMX have been built since the aircraft
entered service in 1989.The AMX can
also be used as an advanced flight trainer. Italy has since disbanded two of
its six AMX squadrons.