COVI: General Luciano Portolano's farewell greeting

(To Greater Defense)
08/10/21

After just over two years at the helm of the Interoperable Summit Operations Command (Covi) the general of the army corps Luciano Portolano is preparing to move to the post of general secretary of defense and national director for armaments.

In the period of gen. Portolano, the Covi has played a pivotal role for Defense in the complex and unpredictable international security scenario, overcoming the inter-force concept and embracing that of multi-domain, where there are five domains: land, sea, sky, cyber and space.

In greeting the Covi staff, the General expressed deep gratitude for the professionalism and commitment put in place by soldiers, sailors, airmen, carabinieri and civilian personnel. The contributions offered by all of you in the exercise of planning, coordination and conduct of out-of-area operations and those to deal with the epidemiological emergency from COVID 19, have demonstrated the effectiveness and readiness in responding to the needs that have emerged, showing, with all evidence, the added value that this command can express in situations characterized by unpredictability and global impact.

Regarding the operations, the general recalled only the last in order of time: the humanitarian evacuation Eagle Omnia, which in 15 days and with over 90 flights allowed the transport of military and civilian personnel - both Italian and foreign - from Afghanistan to Italy.

Eagle Omnia it represented an operational and logistical effort never experienced before by the Italian Defense. Initiated by the Defense Staff, at the request of the Minister of Defense, and planned and directed by Covi, Eagle Omnia it has allowed the safe evacuation of over 5 thousand people, of which about 4.900 Afghan citizens, including about 1.300 women and 1.450 children. Portolano concluded.

To date, the national defense commitment is over 41 missions and operations, of which 38 outside Italy and 3 in the homeland, for a total of over 12.200 men and women in uniform.

The Covi was born as an effect of law no. 25 of 18 February 1997 for the restructuring of the top management of the armed forces which places the Chief of Defense in a superordinate position with respect to the Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces, reporting directly to the Minister of Defense, as head of the military organization and in detail of the planning, preparation and use of the armed forces as a whole.