Grifo 15, one of the four ATR 42MP aircraft operated by the Maritime Exploration Squadron of Italy’s Guardia di Finanza (GdF) customs police takes off from its home base at Pratica di Mare, east of Rome. As soon as the takeoff procedures are completed, the two crewmembers responsible for the radar and optronic sensors turn their seats toward the consoles and switch on the airborne tactical surveillance system (ATOS).
This is not a standard mission: most of the “crew” is made of international media, invited to mark the 10th anniversary of service by ATOS. Since the GdF became the launch customer back in December 1995, its developer–Selex Galileo–has produced more than 45 ATOS packages in different versions for nine customers, who between them use it on 10 different aircraft platforms. The flexibility required by the GdF as one of the design priorities has been a key feature of ATOS, allowing it to be operated on both the ATR 42 and the much smaller Piaggio P.166 DP-1, respectively, with two- and one-console configurations.
