The 3rd Special Operations Helicopter Regiment "Aldebaran" () is an Italian Army regiment based at Viterbo Airport in Lazio. The regiment is part of the army aviation and assigned to the Army Aviation Command. The regiment supports unit the special forces and ranger regiments of the Army Special Forces Command. History On 15 December 1993 the 3rd Army Aviation Regiment "Aldebaran" was formed at Bresso Airport near Milan by reorganizing the 3rd Army Corps' Light Aviation Command. The regiment consisted of a command, a command and services squadron, and the 53rd Squadrons Group "Cassiopea". Before the activation of the regiment the Cassiopeia had moved from Padua Airport to Bresso, where it incorporated personnel and materiel of the disbanded 23rd Squadrons Group "Eridano". On 15 February 1995 the regiment received its flag. On 1 September 1998 the regiment was disbanded, while the 53rd Squadrons Group "Cassiopeia" moved from Bresso to Miramare Air Base, where the squadrons group joined the 5th Army Aviation Regiment "Rigel". Later that month the flag of the 3rd Army Aviation Regiment "Aldebaran" was transferred to the Shrine of the Flags in the Vittoriano in Rome. Naming Since the 1975 army reform Italian army aviation units are named for celestial objects: regiments, are numbered with a single digit and named for stars in the 88 modern constellationss. Accordingly, an army aviation regiment's coat of arms highlights the name-giving star within its constellation. Squadron groups were numbered with two digits and named for constellations, or planets of the Solar System. The 3rd Army Aviation Regiment "Aldebaran" was named for Aldebaran the brightest star in the Taurus constellation. Special Operations Helicopter Unit On 24 July 1964 the Light Aircraft Section was formed at Alghero–Fertilia Airport in Sardinia to support the Italian Armed Forces Special Units Grouping, which was tasked with guarding military intelligence installations and training the direct action personnel of the Italian military intelligence agency SISMI. In 1976 the section was expanded to the 399th Light Aircraft Squadron, and in November 1989 it was expanded to 39th Squadrons Group "Drago" and equipped with AB-412A helicopters. During the 1975 army reform the Light Aviation Unit "Folgore" of the Paratroopers Brigade "Folgore" at Pisa-San Giusto Air Base was reorganized as 26th Squadrons Group "Giove". During the same reform the 1st Army Light Aviation Grouping "Antares" reorganized its I General Use Helicopters Unit as 51st Multirole Helicopters Squadrons Group "Leone". In 1999