The years of the "Ghibli"

In 1989 the 103rd Gruppo moved to Istrana Air Base and was incorporated into the 51º Stormo, leaving the 2° Stormo with only the 14º Gruppo; in the spring of 1991 also the 14° Gruppo began to operate from the base of Istrana to begin the transition with the AMX, but kept its dependency with the 2° Stormo whose Headquarters remained on the airport of Treviso.
In 1993, the 14° Gruppo participates in the exercise "Arabian Stallion" in the UAE and the "Tactical Fighter Weapon Meeting" in Denmark, with a total of 3,200 flight hours during the year.

On March 1st 1994, the 14° Gruppo moved to Rivolto Air Base, near Udine, so rejoining the HQ of the 2nd Wing that had preceded four months earlier and in September took part in the exercise "Dynamic Guard '94" in Belikesir, Turkey. On 28 December 1995 the Gruppo went under NATO command, by intervening in the operation "Deliberate Force" with CAS missions in Bosnia, and even after the conflict, continued armed overflights of Bosnian territory within the operation "Joint Guardian".

In May 1999, the 14° Gruppo was asked to return to war operations in the skies of the Balkans, actively participating in the operation "Allied Force" during the Kosovo crisis, where the results have been so positive as to attract the attention of US allies; On that occasion the AMX of 13º, 14º, 103º and 132º Gruppi used guided weapons for the first time in real operations, releasing 39 Opher IIR-guided bombs and an unknown number of GBU-16 laser-guided bombs over the course of more than 300 sorties.

The new millennium saw the 2° Stormo and the 14° Gruppo celebrating respectively the 75th and the 45th Anniversary of the constitution and set new records in terms of operational efficiency: in September 2000, during the Open Day celebrated at Rivolto, the 14° Gruppo performed a 9-ship formation flyover, and on May 20, 2001 was celebrated the anniversary of the Gruppo and the Stormo with an Open Day of the base of Rivolto and with the preparation of a commemorative aircraft "Special Color"; on the same occasion the 14º Gruppo crossed the finish line of 20,000 flight hours with the AMX.

After an intense training activitiy in Italy and abroad, in September 2001, the 14° Gruppo deployed to Goose Bay, Labrador, to begin flight training at very low altitude in preparation for a possible later participation in exercise RED FLAG, scheduled for the following year. The process of maturation and growth of the 14° Gruppo continued in February 2002 when, after intensive training, obtained the award to the NATO RRF status, brilliantly passing the assessment OPEVAL 2002, during which the staff of the 2° Stormo, fully re-deployed at Istrana AB, simulated a complex war scenario, including NBC threats.

The following year continued with the usual participation in important international exercises ("Strong Resolve 2002" - Norway; AMA 2002 Goose Bay - Canada), but in December the General Staff, in a decision criticized by many, disbanded the 14° Gruppo that was then placed in reserve; to avoid closing also the oldest Stormo of the Air Force, devoid of its only Gruppo, the 313º Group AA "Frecce Tricolori" lost its indipendece and passed under the command of the Black Knight..

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