After two years of Italian command, the 13 July, aboard the Navy landing craft St. George, moored at the Naval Base in Brindisi, the rotation ceremony was held, between Italy and Spain, under the command of the Amphibious Force (Spanish / Italian Amphibious Force - SIAF) and the Italian-Spanish Landing Force (Spanish / Italian Landing Force - SILF). The ceremony was presided over by the commanders of the Italian and Spanish naval squad, the squad admiral Donato Marzano and squad admiral Juan Rodrìguez Garat, and simultaneously involved the two figures of the commander of the Amphibious Force and the commander of the Landing Force .
The passage of "witness", represented by the banner of the SIAF / SILF, took place between the divisional admiral Salvatore Vitiello, commander of the 3ª naval division and the rear-admiral Ricardo Atanasio Hernàndez Lòpez, commander of the 2 naval group of the Spanish Navy and between Rear Admiral Cesare Bruno Petragnani, commander of the Landing Force of the Navy and Brigadier General Antonio Planells Palau, commander of the Terzio de Armada.
The Italian-Spanish Amphibious and Landing Force owes its origin to a joint initiative of the navies of the two Mediterranean countries which, since 16 September 1996, have set themselves the goal of competing - in a unified and complementary form - with the multinational forces to which they normally contribute to the collective security of the international community.
In the current geostrategic landscape, characterized by high complexity and interconnected phenomena, the international community recognizes amphibious forces a central role in maritime strategy, to ensure the necessary connotation of projection of forces and capabilities, aimed at the advanced defense of national interests, in a perspective of broader contribution to the promotion and safeguarding of stability and peaceful coexistence among peoples. Such evidence, within the SIAF, finds an extremely fertile ground, which will allow the development of expeditionary operations "on the sea" and "from the sea", fully exploiting the advantages of a Seabasing approach (ed. Possibility of rapid deployment and projection of force from the sea, with the possibility of continuous support and protection, without dependence on land bases), for example, in the perspective of the cd Capacity Building, to provide relief to the populations of countries in difficulty and assist their defense and security forces.
The SIAF already guarantees a qualified participation in the NATO and European Union contexts, helping to express the rotation of the forces in high readiness for the NATO Response Force (NRF) and lo European Union Battle Group (EUBG), as well as participating in the European sectoral board of the European Amphibious Initiative (EAI).
The Navy will return to lead the Amphibious Force in the 2019.
