The visit of the Chief of Staff of the Navy, team admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, to the top of the US Navy and the Marine Corps ended on February 14. Among the various institutional meetings, Admiral Cavo Dragone had the opportunity to meet the ambassador of Italy to the United States, if Armando Varricchio, the undersecretary of state of the US Navy, Thomas B. Modly, to discuss the relations between the two Marine and the next commitments that will involve the military personnel of the two countries.
Subsequently, he had the opportunity to meet his counterpart, Admiral Mike Gilday, to make a point of view on cooperation with the United States within NATO, an activity of great interest also by virtue of the significant proximity of intentions and close sharing of values. The American admiral also expressed his great appreciation for the skills expressed in the activities carried out together and which allowed us to obtain excellent results, such as those detected during the exercise. Formidable Shield 2019.
Also very fruitful were the talks with General David H. Berger, Commander of the Marine Corps, Corps General Steven R. Rudder, Deputy Commander of the Marine Aviation, Squad Admiral Thomas Moore, Chief of the Naval Sea System Command (NAVSEA) and Division Admiral Frank Morley, Deputy Assistant Secretary of USN International Programs (NIPO).
Afterwards, with the director of the Executive Program for the F-35, Lieutenant General Eric Fick, a situation was made on how the Italian Armed Force will strategically change with the acquisition of the new F-35B vertical take-off aircraft, embarked in the near future aboard Nave Cavour.
The visit made on Thursday 13 February to Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort in South Carolina was of great interest.
To highlight the meeting with the pilots, technicians and specialists of the Navy Naval Aviation in the advanced training phase in the USA and who will constitute the first support nucleus of the tactical air group based on the new F35B on board the aircraft carrier Cavour.
The visit, in addition to being a right opportunity to renew the historic and ever-alive collaboration between the personnel of the navies of the respective countries, has proved to be a fruitful appointment to consolidate the excellent relationships of collaboration and cooperation that will also concern training through exchanges of personnel, confirming the diversified cooperation and the reference role of the Americans as regards operational, capacitive and training aspects.
