Joint Operations Command (Italy)

The COVI is a joint command, made up in every component of military personnel from the four Italian Armed Forces, as well as civilian defense personnel. However, as of 2005, the COI mainly consisted of Army personnel:^[3]

• Army 41%
• Navy 21%
• Air Force 31%
• Carabinieri 7%.

The Joint Operations Command is organized as follows:

• Commander
  • Commander's Secretariat;
  • Office of the Commander;
  • Legal Office;
  • Deputy Commander;
  • General Staff;
  • Italian Joint Force Headquarters;
  • Headquarters.

In 2001 a first Legal Unit was established, and later evolved into an Office.^[7] The Legal Office of the Joint Operations Command provides legal counseling to the Commander, to the divisions of the Command and to the operational theaters, both in the legal field and in the context of the military police activities of the units present in missions and operations abroad.^[1]

In particular, the Legal Office examines the legal aspects connected with joint operations and exercises, provides sectoral technical support in the planning and conduct of operations and exercises, takes care of the preparation of disciplinary and criminal directives in operational theaters. In addition, the Legal Office analyzes the legislative provisions and the acts of parliamentary inspection in its areas of competence, verifies the harmonization of the rules of engagement and operational orders, supports the Italian Defense Staff in drafting of technical agreements.^[1]

With regard to the military police activities, the Legal Office handles the activities of the judicial police for investigations delegated by the Judicial Authority for events that have occurred in the national territory and in the operational theatres and collaborates with the ordinary judicial authority and with the police authorities in investigations.^[1]

The General Staff of the Joint Operations Command is in charge to oversee all operations under the purview of the Command. It is organized with three branches:^[1]

• Office of the Chief of Staff;
• Operations Department;
• Operations Support Department.

The Operations Department is responsible for planning, conducting, monitoring and evaluating the all effects of all operations. The department is also responsible for Operational Planning (contingency and urgency), as well as the organization and coordination of joint, national, inter-ministerial and multinational exercises. In addition, it contributes to the General Defense Planning. Its facility includes the Joint Operation Centre.^[8]

The Operational Support Department is responsible for coordinating the design, construction and maintenance of all the infrastructures in the operational theater of national interest in the joint area. The department manages the personnel assigned to the operational theatres, the logistical and health structures of the operations and the financial activities of the Contingents. The Department coordinates, controls and identifies the priorities of the movements and transport of forces to and from the operational theatres and regulates the operational aspects connected with telecommunications and IT systems.^[8]

The Italian Joint Force Headquarters (ITA-JFHQ) is a joint Command, set up in 2007 in order to have a joint Command and Control element able to deploy quickly outside the national territory and to be able to manage a military device articulated on the five war domains. The Command has very high operational readiness: entry into the theatre of the first elements within 24 hours after the order is given.^[9]

The ITA-JFHQ is permanently activated and is led by a Brigadier General (or corresponding rank). The Command has a small staff (about 30 units) characterized by flexibility and streamlined organizational structure.^[1][9]

The Command is able to plan and conduct small scale operations operating both on land and from the sea, under the control of the Italian Chief of Defence Staff or, in the case of joint operations with the armed forces of other countries, under the control of the designated military authority.^[10] It may use Joint Rapid Reaction Force assets.^[9]

Among the main tasks, the ITA-JFHQ plans and conducts:^[1][9]

• Non-combatant evacuation operations;
• Small scale operations (Early Entry Force);
• Disaster relief;
• Humanitarian assistance;
• the detachment of individual elements or operational reconnaissance and liaison teams, completely independent from a technical and logistical point of view;
• the deployment of the entire Command Post, assisted by a support unit set up for tactical-logistic support (logistics, communications, Force Protection), in order to conduct small joint operations;
• the deployment of a Command Post as an advanced party of a larger national unit subsequently deployed for the conduct of larger scale operations.

The Command has been used both abroad and on the Italian national territory.^[10]

Since 2021, the Command controls the joint commands:^[4][6]

• Joint Special Forces Operations Headquarters (Comando interforze per le Operazioni delle Forze Speciali, COFS);
• Network Operations Command (Comando delle Operazioni in Rete, COR);
• Space Operations Command (Comando per le Operazioni Spaziali, COS).

• Chief of the Defence Staff (Italy)