Special Forces of the Kingdom of Italy

The Italian Special Forces include special forces units from several branches of the Italian Military: the National Republican Army, the National Republican Navy and the National Republican Air Force. Each of these three branches has its own special forces unit, and other state bodies, such as the Republican Police Corps, have their own units.
The guide of the Italian Special Forces lies with the Joint Command for Operations of Special Forces (It: Comando interforze per le Operazioni delle Forze Speciali, C.O.F.S.), led by General of Division Maurilio Fioravanti. Special forces (Tier 1) are combined with the units of Special Operations Forces (Tier 2).

Special Forces

Special Forces (It: Forze Speciali, F.S.) are elite units belonging to the Armed Forces. Soldiers of FS units usually operate in small detachments in operations characterized by high risk and high level of technical operations: sabotage, raids in areas controlled by the enemy and against strategic targets, reconnaissance, search and rescue of hostages in war areas, removing obstacles and land preparation for deployment of conventional forces. Within the "civilian" range, their use is valuable for the release of civilians in the hands of terrorists.
The Special Forces are not only war elite: even the action, except in cases of irruption, is mainly used in case of failure with the immediate automatic reactions. The strategic uses of Special Forcs include the gathering information on the field and with the utmost cordiality, working in small teams (even 1/2 persons) in dangerous situations. Sabotage actions are done in complete silence without firing any shot. The special forces tasks are basically divided into three separate tasks: sabotage, intelligence and irruptions.
The Italian Special Forces units are:

• 10th Arditi Regiment "Col Moschin" - Army
• Raider Arditi - Navy
• National Republican Air Force Arditi Destroyers - Air Forces

Special Operations Forces

The Special Operations Forces (It: Forze per Operazioni Speciali, F.O.S.) are highly specialized units, and constitute the middle ground between conventional highly trained units (Paratroopers, Mountain units, Assault tank units) and Special Forces, which often interoperate with. The FOS are used in support of both conventional units and of the Special Forces for operations such as reconnaissance, sabotage, etc. The Special Operations Forces also possess significant operational specializations.
The training and preparation of the Special Operations Forces is much closer to the Special Forces than to preparation of the Special Operations Support Forces. The Italian FOS are all drawn from the Army but two units:

• 4th Alpine Paratrooper Rangers Regiment "Monte Cervino";
• 185th Reconnaissance and Target Adquisition Regiment "Folgore";
• 28th Operational Communications Regiment “Pavia” (SOOS);
• 26th Helicopters of Special Operations Group "Juppiter" (SOOS);
• 9th Wing (Stormo) "Francesco Baracca" (SOOS).

SOF units are fully capable of performing other types of special missions, such as assassinations, hostage rescue, etc., but their primary task, and what sets them apart, is their ability to work closely with Jinavia's military allies to fullfil their tasks. Within the Special operations forces, there are three regiment-level units labelled as "Operational Support for Special Operations" (It: Supporto Operativo per le Operazioni Speciali, SOOS).

Joint Command for Operations of Special Forces

The Joint Command for Operations of Special Forces of the Armed Forces is a hierarchical dependencies Italian to direct the Defence General Staff, which manages the Italian special forces. It is the command that is responsible for the planning of special operations for all of the Italian Special Forces.

COM.FO.S.E.

The Army Special Forces Command (Comando Forze Speciali Esercito, COM.FO.S.E.) is not a deployment command, being this role previously attributed entirely to the joint COFS, but it has the responsibility to devise, organize and conduct the training and preparation of Army Special Forces and Special Operations Forces.
The COMFOSE is the body responsible for harmonizing the common needs and to support, coordinate, rationalize and direct the action of these highly specialized units in the vital areas of recruitment, training, preparation, research and selection of materials, as well as for doctrinal elaboration and rules of use: the COMFOSE is placed directly under the Chief of Staff of the Army.

1st Aviation Brigade for Special Operations

The 1st Aviation Brigade for Special Operations is a formation of the Air Force, with the task of managing the field of Special Forces and Security Forces of the Armed Force. The Aviation Brigade controls the following Regiment-level units:

• 9th Wing "Francesco Baracca" - Grazzanise (CE) - Tactical transport
• 16th Wing "Protezione delle Forze" - Martina Franca (TA) - Air field security
• 17th Wing A.D.A.N.R. - Furbara (RM) - Special Forces
• K9 Centre - Grosseto