Police stand by a missile seized at an airport hangar near Pavia, northern Italy, following an investigation into Italians who took part in the Russian-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine, in Turin, Italy, Monday, July 15, 2019. Police in northern Italy have detained three men, including one tied to a neo-fascist Italian political party, after uncovering a huge stash of automatic weapons, a missile and Nazi propaganda. (Tino Romano/ANSA via AP)

Cleary what Italy needs is a national conversation about ballistic weapons, a mandatory buyback and some common sense air-to-air missile control. These weapons of war have no place in Italy’s skies.

From the AP:

Rome – Police in northern Italy have detained three men, including one linked to a neo-fascist Italian political party, after uncovering a huge stash of automatic weapons, a missile and material featuring Nazi symbols.

Police said the discoveries stemmed from a previous investigation into Italians who took part in the Russian-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

In a statement Monday, Turin police said one of the men arrested had in 2001 run unsuccessfully as a Senate candidate for the neo-fascist Forza Nuova party. At his home in Gallarate, police found nine assault weapons, nearly 30 hunting rifles, pistols and bayonets as well as ammunition and antique Nazi plaques featuring swastikas.

Two other men were detained after police found a French-made missile at an airport hangar that they apparently were seeking to sell.

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121 COMMENTS

    • For sale…one French missile, never fired by the Russians, only dropped once by the Italians. Va Bene!

  4. Never fear. It is a French air-to-air missile. Far more dangerous to the people trying to fire it than to anyone targeted by the weapon.

    Be very afraid of the hunting rifles.

    • Judging by the photo, it looks like the French technology only shoots a missile several feet out of the launcher. Then it makes for a great photo op.

    • “Never fear. It is a French air-to-air missile.”

      Fear it if it’s a French ‘Exocet’. Ask the sailors on the HMS ‘Sheffield’…

    • The super secret ninja police didn’t look too concerned. Just cracked that shipping container open and hulled that baby out. Looks like it did a nose dive into the concrete on the way out. Neo-nazis have guided missiles and explosives? What ever! EOD is for pussies.

    • You sure can’t hang that thing on the bottom of your average Cessna 150/182….. Attempts to fire it from the ground would be ineffective AND possibly extremely life altering to those idiots who try it….

  5. Other than the fact that pretty much anybody can get anything they want. Despite any laws to the contrary; why do we care?

  7. I want air to air capability, just not French….it fires then turns around and makes the shooters surrender to the plane. Makes me wonder though, where is the launcher?

    • That big “green thing” lurking behind the missile is the launch pod the pod plugs into a socket on the fighters wing and the actual launch is controlled by a computer when engaged by the pilot..

      • That green thing is the transportation/storage container. The missile is removed from this container and mounted on a launch rail under the fighter wing.

      • It might look similar to an AIM-54, but that is a Matra Super 530. It’s closest American equivalent is the final iterations of the AIM-7 Sparrow. Both of them are missiles that rely on semi-active radar guidance. That means that the launching aircraft must guide the missile all the way to the target. While neither missile is totally obsolete they are both most certainly on the obsolescent side of things by most modern standards.

      • This wikipedia article has already been updated to include this incident in Italy. Funny that the list of “Former Users” now includes “Italy Neo Nazis.”

  9. Back in the day French rifles were for sale cheap in Shotgun News. The pitch was, “Never fired. Only dropped once.”

    • no we call neo-nazi’s – neo nazi’s and antifa – antifa. Same stupidity, different category, one is racist.

      • Don’t kid yourself “antifa” is just as racist as any bunch of neo-nazi/skinheads.. They call themselves Anti Fascist yet use the very tactics employed by FASCISTS… They are terrorists and they are COWARDS… If you have right on your side you don’t hide your face and launch group assaults on individuals including women, the elderly, service men and even a person trying to record them to tell their story (who happened to be a GAY asian).. They are a tool of the radical left and they will only be tolerated for so long…

        • Mad, I think the ANTIFA movement is a serious threat to the United States of America. They should be fired upon with lethal ammunition.

          • They are years away from being a “serious threat” most of them are young and soon grow to see the error of their ways and head off to find some other useless cause. It is the leadership (mostly radical left wing/socialist/communist college professors) that perpetuate the movement through brainwashing and indoctrination that should be the primary targets of any “flushing” operation…

        • I don’t think you do. If it was BLM then yes, racist. But Antifa is made of all different races and has no racial motivation. They simply exist to cause chaos and anarchy, and they accept anyone who is down to help their cause. There are black racists movements, white racist movements, etc etc… but antifa, is not racist. They are just retarded. You can google image “Antifa” and every single picture has the evidence you need they are not racist.

    • Didn’t Italy start Antifa to fight the Nazis? Isn’t that why American Antifa chant in that language?

      • American antifa. If it looks like a duck, has feathers like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it’s fascist. Antifa’s actions mark them, not their words.

        • What they really are is communist LARPers playing out their own regressive fantasies of 1930s Europe’s fascists vs. commies turmoil.

          Regardless of what we call them, Fezzik’s wisdom applies: People in masks cannot be trusted. (Fortunately they also make great targets.)

  12. The other thing it’s an air to air. Were the idiots going to steal a Mirage to hang it on. And if so who was going to fly it? Because after all that every air force on the planet would be after your ass.

  13. So they steal this air to air missile, so what were they gonna mount it on, a Cessna?

    • A Cessna Citation ‘X’, maybe, if they can fit a rail on it. And whatever targeting avionics it likely needs…

      • No warhead and nothing to guide it with. Basically just a giant Estes model rocket, if it had an intact motor and they could figure out how to fire it.

    • The US is not the only country were you can legally own supersonic military aircraft. You just have to have enough money to buy one. Just like have enough $$$ to buy a Tommy Gun. Don’t forget civilian museums buy aircraft for display all the time.

      “Florida-based Draken International, which boasts a fleet of more than 50 jets—actually succeeded in importing some 27 Russian-built MiG-21 fighters to use for training purposes. In addition to the MiGs, the company operates some 11 Douglas A-4K Skyhawk attack aircraft—but those aircraft are upgraded with electronics including a radar from upgraded European-operated versions of the F-16 fighter jet. Draken’s fleet also includes nine Italian-built Aermacchi MB-339CB advanced trainers, 28 Czech-built Aero Vodochody L-159E light combat jets, and five L-39s.”

      https://www.thedailybeast.com/air-force-turns-to-supersonic-mercenaries

        • Small countries have small air forces. Sometimes they even rent planes from civilians.

      • ““Florida-based Draken International, which boasts a fleet of more than 50 jets”

        They are right here in my town, about 3 miles from me right now. And you can hear them clearly when they come and go. The guys flying them are mostly retired ex-Navy F-14 and F-18 Hornet drivers…

      • Interesting fact. PepsiCo once had a naval fleet that would have been better than many nations consisting of a cruiser, several destroyers, a number of submarines, as well as freighters and tankers. They got them in exchange from the USSR for their products during the 1980s.

        The warships were supposedly scrapped and the freighters and tankers were leased out through a Norwegian company.

  14. They’re not even good Nazis. If they were, they would’ve given that missile a proper black and white V2 style paint job.

  15. I think that is a “Super 530” missile. More or less equivalent to the AIM-7 Sparrow, from what I’ve read.

    • Sean, I could be wrong, but I think the AIM series of missles were the heat seeking Sidewinders. I believe the Sparrow was a radar guided air to air. Again, I could be wrong. After all, I spent most of my time pounding the ground under an Alice ruck.

      • Well, I pounded the ground after they made me jump out of that C-130, or that C-141, or that Shithook, or that Huey. Wait! Did I just tell everyone how old I am?

        • Yeah. Jump school; 4 from a C119, one from a 141, after that… best was a Huey over Gatun lake in PT clothes.

        • If you know where the Hell Hole is on a Uh-1h, then yeah your as old as dirt and the first PMCS you ever did was on a wagon wheel. j/k

        • Manse, if you were last out the door. and that means right behind the pilot/co-pilot and you didn’t bump the skid you did good. Speaking of a UH-1H. Deployed on a Blackhawk. Pathfindered them into an LZ. Never jumped one. They were so new I don’t think they had a protocol before I ETS. Not sure if they jump them today..

      • AIM stands for Air Intercept Missile.
        Examples AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-54 Phoenix, and AIM-120 AMRAAM

        The U.S. DOD uses a Mission-Design-Series (MDS) Designation for missile and rocket names, which has up to eight separate parts.
        Example AIM-9P-2 Sidewinder
        The A in slot 1 stands for its launch environment. (Air)
        The I in slot 2 stands for its mission. (Interception)
        The M in slot 3 stands for its vehicle type. (Guided Missile)
        The 9 in slot 4 stands for its design number. (Nine)
        The P in slot 5 stands for its series letter, which run A-Z. (P here)
        The 2 in slot 7 indicates its configuration
        The name “Sidewinder” in slot 8 is the popular name.
        The blank in slot 6 (before slot 1 as a prefix) is for a non-operational configuration

        • Skorpion, defer to your expertise. As I said, I was a ground pounder after the birds gave me a ride. Then made me jump out.

  16. … Police in northern Italy have detained three men … after uncovering a huge stash of automatic weapons …

    Let me guess: that “huge stash” of automatic weapons consisted of four or five firearms?

    • And that was also quite funny!

      Wow, the Armed Intelligencia are on a roll today!

  21. This is one time I concur with cops hiding their faces. They don’t need clowns with this kind of stuff personally looking for them.

  24. So are these REAL Nazis?!? Not a bunch of Antifa chitheads? BTW an enemy of the 2A died-John Paul Stevens. Satan welcomed him…

  25. “Cleary what Italy needs is a national conversation about ballistic weapons, a mandatory buyback and some common sense air-to-air missile control. These weapons of war have no place in Italy’s skies.”

    If you hillbilies and Jethro’s don’t want this stuff to happen in our country, you better join our cause. That is the Socialist Party within our present government. We know how to educate people. We know how to enact sweeping changes on a national level. We are the future of this country. Believe it.

    • I don’t need a crystal ball to tell the “Socialist Party” their future in America… Brainwashing is not educating and free stuff for everyone is not change… Save yourselves a world of pain and embarrassment and just take your happy asses and your communist and antifa buddies back to Venezuela.. You will not be allowed to turn this country into another 3rd world shit hole.. Happy trails..

    • Well, at least you finally admit how much of an idiot you are. At first you tried to hide. Now you are just out in the open with your retardation and admitting to trolling. Get a life dude. You don’t change anything by ranting on comment sections. You just use animosity to vent your angers and make your alter ego equally as retarded as your real life presentation. People like you are all smiles in person. At your dead end retail jobs. All teeth in the unemployment lines. You are not fooling anyone, even at your rallies when you get your head bashed in by batons.

      • Sooo are you a hillbilly or a Jethro? Personally I’m an Eastern Ky hillbilly and damned proud of it… Much better than being a brainwashed, indoctrinated, mass produced clone spouting the same bullshit (rhetoric to the clones) on every issue and attempting to silence the free speech of those who disagree with them in an attempt to gain approval from their leftist socio/communist masters…

        • I think you are confused again. That reply was for Vlad… and if you read it, it would makes sense that way, or was your reply supposed to be for Vlad too? Because mine was directly under his comment, and yours was under mine. Slow down dude. pay attention.

    • You make it sound like being a hillbilly is a bad thing. I’ll take it over being a city slicker any day. And seeing how socialism leads to communism and there has never been a successful communist country, I doubt very highly that it is the way of the future. Since your antifa friends are getting more and more violent everyday, eventually something will be done about it.

  28. So, I have to ask, is it actually illegal to own or be in possession of a missile? Show me the statute, just asking, not assuming.

  29. Wally1, In the U.S., this missile is a destructive device and a weapon of mass destruction.
    Excerpts from the law:
    18 U.S. Code § 2332a.Use of weapons of mass destruction
    (a) Offense Against a or Within the United States.—A person who, without lawful authority, uses, threatens, or attempts or conspires to use, a weapon of mass destruction—…
    …
    (c) Definitions.—For purposes of this section—
    …
    (2)the term “weapon of mass destruction” means—
    (A) any destructive device as defined in section 921 of this title;

    18 U.S. Code § 921.Definitions
    …
    (4)The term “destructive device” means—
    (A)any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas—
    (i) bomb,
    (ii) grenade,
    (iii) rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces,
    (iv) missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce,
    (v) mine, or
    (vi) device similar to any of the devices described in the preceding clauses;

  34. Update:
    Qatar says it sold missile seized by Italian police to ‘friendly nation’ in 1994
    “Qatar is working very closely now with the pertinent parties, including Italy, to unveil the facts and it is very concerned as to how a missile sold 25 years ago ended up in the hands of a third non-state party,” said Qatar foreign ministry spokeswoman Lolwah al-Khater on Twitter.

    Khater said the seized Matra missile was sold by Doha “in 1994 in a deal that included 40 Matra Super 530 missiles to a friendly nation that wishes not to be named at this point of the investigation”.

    Messages intercepted by the police led them to investigate Del Bergiolo, who had sent photographs of the missile for sale through the WhatsApp messaging service.

    They [Italian Police] put him under surveillance before raiding his home and finding a stash of 26 weapons, including a Scorpion machine gun, 306 gun parts, including silencers and rifle scopes, and more than 800 bullets of various calibres.

    The French-made Mantra Super 530 F has a range of 25km, with an explosive charge of 30kg

    • I’d kinda prefer to have non-state actors armed up than the state actors named. Just sayin.

    • Not too surprising, hardware like that gets ‘pilfered’ in shit-hole countries on a fairly regular basis.

      The US supplied the Afghan rebels with ‘Stinger’ (IIRC) Man-portable anti-air missiles, but they had a system to keep the thefts down. They made it clear to the Mujaheddin the only way they would get a new missile was to return the expended launcher tube to the CIA supplying them. That’s the only reason why the hundreds sent over there didn’t ‘vanish’ mysteriously…

  35. I’ve been posting here for months and today after composing a rather lengthy response to an idiot that does not know the difference between sarcastic and real shit (yeah you know who you are) and made personal comments about me against which I should be able to defend. I was bot checked and lost my post when the bot check failed to open.. If this site and the commentary herein is that serious then I’m obviously in the wrong place (not sarcasm)… See ya’ll in the funny papers..

  36. For defense against bears, I would absolutely use this Super 530. Something like a sidewinder just doesn’t have the stopping power.

  37. I wouldn’t worry too much about a 25 year old air to air missile actually working as intended. The 66 pounds of high explosive contained inside it though, that’s the real worry.

    Some terrorist could have a grand time with all that KADAMNBOOM!!!! making material.

    On the other hand I’ve seen missiles for sale in military surplus. Of course, they were hollow inside, all the innards long ago removed. A guy I knew bought something similar and had it as a conversation piece in his living room.

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