On Monday 25 July, at the Hall of Heroes of Palazzo Aeronautica in Rome, in the presence of the general of the aerial team Settimo Caputo, head of the General Staff of the Air Force, took place the ceremony of the handover of the 4 ° department "Logistics "of the General Staff of the Air Force, between the general of air division Stefano Vito Salamida, head of the outgoing department, and the general of air brigade Giandomenico Taricco, incoming sub-division chief.
Present at the ceremony were the department heads and the heads of the offices of the palace and of the high command, the representatives of the interforce and industry, as well as the staff of the 4 department.
General Salamida, in leaving the department after about three years of stay, wanted to underline the successes that the department has achieved, such as the F-2000, JSF, 346, P1-HH, AGS and PISQ programs, to name a few, also in light of the progressive reduction of personnel, which requires an increasingly heavy effort. He focused on the importance of collaboration with the industrial sector which expresses great skills and competences which then pour into the operational capacity of the armed force.
He also expressed great satisfaction with the quality and quantity of the work carried out by the staff of the 4 department and thanked all the high command and bodies with which he collaborated.
At the end of his speech, General Salamida wanted to thank the previous sub-chiefs of the General Staff, General Magro and General Giancotti and the Chief of General Precious Staff.
Taking the floor, General Taricco thanked the leaders for the trust given to him in the assignment of the position of head of the 4 ° department. General Taricco acknowledged that the period provided at the Defense Intelligence Center of the Defense Staff was useful, since it was a privileged observatory of all the Armed Forces' operational activities: "Well after such a long period I can say that the level of integration is much higher than can be perceived and in this mixed team, the Air Force is the main enabler. A role that plays thanks to the domination of the third dimension and of technology and that will become even more important and decisive as the reorganization process develops, as indicated by the white paper ". In his speech he also wanted to underline the fundamental importance of the relationship with industry: "a successful product is the result of a clear requirement and of a company that is able to carry it out".
Finally, General Caputo took the floor to speak of the importance of the 4 ° department, in particular for the acquisition of weapon systems and his look to the future , acknowledging the excellent results despite the limited human resources available: "New challenges await us, the white book, besides being an order, can also become a great opportunity". In his speech, General Caputo also wanted to highlight the reorganization process that we will soon have to face: "The transformation process is underway, we will have to rebalance the activities in progress, shifting the tasks of the present to the high command to focus on the activities of the future and for this I ask everyone's collaboration ”.
He thanked General Salamida for his work and good luck to General Taricco.
General Salamida will assume the role of deputy commander of the Allied Command for Transformation (ACT) of Norfolk, Virginia.
