The Joint Special Forces Operations Headquarters (, COFS) is the joint command of the

Italian Armed Forces The Italian Armed Forces (, ) encompass the Italian Army, the Italian Navy and the Italian Air Force. A fourth Military branch, branch of the armed forces, known as the Carabinieri, take on the role as the nation's Gendarmerie, military police an ...

charged with overseeing the various special operations units of the

. The command is part of the Joint Operations Command and is validated as NATO Component Command. COFS is headquartered at Centocelle Airport in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Mission

At the national level, COFS is the Command specifically designated in charge of planning, organizing and conducting Special Operations, which include

special reconnaissance Special reconnaissance (SR) is conducted by small units, such as a recon team, made up of highly trained military personnel, usually from special forces units and/or military intelligence organizations. Special reconnaissance teams operate behind ...

direct actions Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...

and military assistance. The COFS commander is also an advisor to the Chief of Defence in all aspects concerning Special Operations. He also assists the political-military leaders in operational decisions and deals with the procurement of materials to be adopted by the special operations forces, on the basis of specific needs expressed by the units themselves.

History

The Joint Forces Command for Operations of the Special Forces was established on 1 December 2004 under the direct control of the Chief of the Defence Staff. COFS, initially, had the objective of coordinating the missions of the two defence special forces departments: the 9th Paratroopers Assault Regiment "''Col Moschin''", and GOI of the COMSUBIN. In 2005 the GIS and the 17th Raiders Wing were made available to COFS for possible use. In 2006 the new command launched Operation "''Sarissa''", which involved the deployment and use of Task Force 45 in Afghanistan. In 2008, after a validation process, the Command was certified by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

as a Component Command for Special Operations within the framework of the

NATO Response Force The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a high-readiness NATO rapid deployment force comprising land, sea, air, and special forces units capable of being deployed quickly within short notice. The NRF comprises more than 500,000 troops. Its forces inc ...

. In 2021, COFS was moved under the renewed Joint Operations Command.

List of commanders

As of 2022, COFS has had seven commanders.

Organization

The Joint Operational Command of the Special Forces is an Operational Command that has a hierarchical structure consisting of the Commander (COMCOFS), the Deputy Commander (DCOMCOFS) and the Chief of Staff (COS). COFS represents the staff body available to the Joint Forces Operations Command on the subject of special operations and reports directly to the latter's Commander.

Subordinate units

The command is responsible for the operations conducted by special forces units: * CoA mil ITA rgt paracadutisti 009

9th Paratroopers Assault Regiment "''Col Moschin''" of the

Italian Army The Italian Army ( []) is the Army, land force branch of the Italian Armed Forces. The army's history dates back to the Italian unification in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China and Italo-Turkish War, Libya. It ...

; *

4th Alpini Paratroopers Regiment The 4th Alpini Paratroopers Regiment () is a special operations forces regiment of the Italian Army based in Montorio Veronese in Veneto. Originally the regiment belonged to the Italian Army's Alpini infantry specialty, but since 14 July 1996 it ...

"''Monte Cervino''" of the

; *

185th Paratroopers Reconnaissance Target Acquisition Regiment "''Folgore''" of the

; *

COMSUBIN COMSUBIN (''Comando Raggruppamento Subacquei e Incursori "Teseo Tesei"''; Divers and Raiders Group Command "Teseo Tesei") is the Italian Navy's special operations unit. Italy was the first nation to use frogmen and human torpedoes. The Royal I ...

of the

Italian Navy The Italian Navy (; abbreviated as MM) is one of the four branches of Italian Armed Forces and was formed in 1946 from what remained of the ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) after World War II. , the Italian Navy had a strength of 30,923 active per ...

; * 17th Raiders Wing of the

Italian Air Force The Italian Air Force (; AM, ) is the air force of the Italy, Italian Republic. The Italian Air Force was founded as an independent service arm on 28 March 1923 by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, King Victor Emmanuel III as the ("Royal Air Force ...

; *

GIS A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualize geographic data. Much of this often happens within a spatial database; however, this is not ...

of the

Carabinieri The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign poli ...

(for military needs).

References