The Air Force participates in the JOINT STARS 2022/23 (JOST) exercise, the most important inter-force and inter-agency training event of the Defence, employing its personnel in the structures of the Joint Force Air Component (JFAC) dated Aerospace Operations Command (COA) of Poggio Renatico.
JOST 22/23 is an exercise ordered by the Chief of the Defense Staff and planned by Interoperable Summit Operations Command (COVI).
In this first phase of JOST 22/23, which began last December and ended on 27 January, a type of activity was developed Command Post EXercise (CPX), aimed at the interoperability and training of units and assets of the national Armed Forces and of various articulations within the Operational Planning process for the conduct of an inter-force and multinational operation in compliance with art. 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which establishes the principle of collective defense in the event of aggression against one of the allied countries.
The purpose of the exercise is to verify the planning capabilities of a joint national staff for an operation for the defense of air, land and sea spaces, cyber and space security, defense against chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear contamination and countering the threats deriving from emerging technologies.
The planning activity related to theAir and Space Domain, in support of the plan developed at the Joint level (joint forces), was conducted by gen. by Claudio Gabellini as commander of the Joint Force Air Component (JFAC) - Air Force command and control facility activated within the Aerospace Operations Command - who made use of a Air Operation Planning Group (AOPG) made up of about 50 sector experts, supported by other personnel in training, and who have always been in close coordination with other units of the Armed Forces located in theAir Component Coordination Element (ACC) of Army Simulation and Validation Center (CeSiVa) in Civitavecchia.
This training process is preparatory to the achievement, in 2025, of the NATO certification of the ITA-JFAC as a national command in readiness NATO Response Force (NRF).
