Italy to establish a Space Command

The undersecretary of Defence, Angelo Tofalo, and the Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force, Gen. Alberto Rosso, said that everything is ready to establish the “General Space Office of Italian Armed Forces”. The first step towards the formation of a Space Command.

Italy is laying foundation for building its Space Command

Undersecretary of Defence, Angelo Tofalo

The announcement was made during the presentation of the book “Geopolitca dell’esplorazione spaziale” (Geopolitics of the space exploration” at the Center for American Studies in Rome.

The italian Space Command will be under the command of the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Enzo Vecciarelli.

Italy has applied to host the 2022 edition of the European Interparliamentary Space Conference.

Italian Air Force activity in Space

Gen. Alberto Rosso said that Space is the “fifth domain”, in military terms, but only above the Kármán line (100 km). Below the line and over the controlled airspace there is the “aerospace belt” where spaceplane operates. Italian Air Force signed a contract with Virgin Galactic for a research flight on the SpaceShipTwo where Italian researchers will conduct experiments.

Italian Air Force is studying a airborne platform to launch small satellites.