NATO says one of its F—16 fighter—bombers crashed on landing at an air base in southern Italy after completing a mission over Libya.
A statement said the pilot ejected safely after landing on Wednesday on the outbound runway. His condition was “being assessed” it said without elaborating.
The air base at Sigonella in western Sicily is about 360 miles (600 kilometers) north of Libya’s capital, Tripoli. It has been used extensively by aircraft from several NATO nations for bombing missions over Libya.
Italian police have opened a probe into the crash landing, the statement said.
No NATO aircraft had been lost since the alliance’s missions over Libya started March 31. A U.S. F—15 crashed in Libya before NATO took over command of the strike missions.
