Thursday 13 July at 10: 00 aboard the Navy landing craft St. George, moored at the naval base of Brindisi, there will be a ceremony to change the command of the Italian-Spanish amphibious force (Spanish / Italian Amphibious Force - SIAF) and the Italian-Spanish landing force (Spanish / Italian Landing Force - SILF).
The two indivisible operational realities constituted by the aeronaval component, dedicated to protecting and deploying forces towards the land target area, and the landing one, specializing in force projection operations from sea to land, are headed by two top figures. Therefore, divisional admiral Salvatore Vitiello, commander of the 3 ^ naval division will hand over the command of the SIAF to rear-admiral Ricardo Atanasio Hernández López, commander of the 2 naval group of the Spanish Navy, and rear-admiral Cesare Bruno Petragnani, commander of the landing force of the Italian Navy, will transfer the command of the SILF to Brigadier General Antonio Planells Palau, commander of the Tercio de Armada.
At the ceremony will be team admiral Donato Marzano, commander in chief of the Italian naval squad (CINCNAV) and team admiral Juan Rodríguez Garat, commander in chief of the Spanish naval squad (ALFLOT).
The Navy has always operated, as well as in the inter-force field, in international contexts and inter-agency thanks to the intrinsic characteristics of flexibility of the armed force and the natural propensity to cooperate with the navies of allied countries and friends for the defense and safeguard of the interests of collectivity.
The Italian-Spanish amphibious force was therefore born in the 1996 from a common initiative and represents the concrete contribution of the two Marines to the security of the international community in the maritime field. It is a concrete response to the need to have a naval air force of a specific Mediterranean nature, ready to deploy in a very short time and is a tangible example for the European integration project in a maritime key.
The aim of this twenty-year synergy is to compete, within Europe, NATO, the UN and with the multinational forces to which Italy and Spain adhere, to common defense missions, to peace support operations and humanitarian assistance as well as to increase the capacities, potential and interoperability of the two Marinas in the context of amphibious and aeronaval operations, a sector in constant development.
The Navy which, as part of the natural shift between nations, held the command for two years, will return to direct the force in 2019.
