General Corcione, the first military defense minister of the Republican age, died

(To Tiziano Ciocchetti)
05/01/20

General Domenico Corcione, former Army Chief of Staff from 1989 to 1990 and subsequently Chief of Defense Staff from 1 April 1990 to 31 December 1993, died.

On 17 January 1995 - until 17 May 1996 when he gave way to Beniamino Andreatta - he entered the technical executive (actually political, since the formula technical it is only a mirror for the larks) chaired by Dini, as holder of the Department of Defense.

In almost 50 years of republican history it was the first time that a military (even if auxiliary) assumed the leadership of Palazzo Baracchini.

His mandate coincides with the use of the bersaglieri brigade Garibaldi in Bosnia, for the first time, a large unit made up entirely of professionals was sent on a mission abroad.

Thus began the long evolutionary phase of our Armed Forces which would lead, ten years later, to the suspension of compulsory conscription.

During his tenure he tried to start a modernization program of the Armed Forces (the worst equipped in NATO), having to face the scarcity of funds that were assigned to the sector.

However, despite having been in command of armored units, Corcione did not object to the acquisition of the MBT ARIETE by the Army, and moved funding to purchase 120 LEOPARD 1A5 turrets from Germany. Instead, other inexpensive but operationally effective solutions - such as the Astra 8x8 rotated howitzer with a 155/39 piece, instead of the much more expensive German self-propelled PzH-2000 - remained at the prototype stage.

As for the Air Force, Corcione finally retired the interceptor F-104 (modernized several times during its long service and cost hundreds of billions of lire), leasing from the RAF 24 TORNADO ADV (including missiles air-to-air with SKYFLASH radar guide).

Corcione tried to interpret his role as Minister in the best possible way, putting his vast experience in the Army on the field, having to confront several times with a political class reluctant to assign resources to the Defense, pervaded by the idea of end of the storytherefore unable to predict the crises that would characterize future international scenarios.