By NNN-KUNA,
Kuwait : Kuwait army said Friday that news of a Kuwaiti military airplane violating Italian airspace were “inaccurate.” The Army’s official spokesman Air-Commodore Yousif Al-Mullah told KUNA that no military aircraft would cross an airspace of a friendly nation without obtaining annual passes, adding there were no incident which contradict this fact.
He went on saying that every nation has the right to monitor its airspace, affirming that Kuwaiti military planes did not violate or shifted away from the approved airway path.
The Italian Air Force said a Kuwaiti transport aircraft on Friday crossed the Italian airspace by mistake.
The plane-a C-130 — was intercepted by two Italian aircraft F17 of the Fifth Squadron, which is charged with safeguarding the airspace, after it was monitored flying over the Mediterranean Island of Ponza, the Air Force said in a release. The Kuwaiti aircraft, which was coming from the Greek capital Athens to England was escorted by the two Italian fighters until it flew out of the Italian airspace, it added. An Italian Air Force source told the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) by phone that such incidents involving immediate interception usually take place when an alien plane crosses the airspace without prior notice or permission.